Looking at the line-up for the women’s section of Tata Steel Chess India, it’s tempting to say that one name missing is greater than those present. There is no Koneru Humpy in the mix. Bronze medallist at the recent world rapid meet, she remains the strongest Indian woman across formats.
In the stalwart’s absence, the focus from the Indian point of view in this rapid and blitz championship is on the younger bunch. They are spearheaded by Divya Deshmukh, followed by R Vaishali, Vantika Agarwal and Rakshitta Ravi. Veteran D Harika is the other Indian in the field of 10 and the link between the generation of Humpy and the current crop.
In a lot of ways, Divya will be the most closely followed player. The 20-year-old is the World Cup and world junior champion. In two years, she has made rapid strides. With Vaishali, she has added the element of interest in Indian women’s chess that went missing after the heydays of Humpy and Harika. In addition, she is a hit with fans, sought-after for selfies and one gets a feeling that she doesn’t get swayed by it.
Already a force to reckon with in the longer version, Divya had her moments, but couldn’t impose herself in the World Rapid and Blitz in Doha last month. The Grandmaster from Nagpur finished eighth in rapid and 15th in blitz. This suggests that she had a few good games and there were occasions when she could have done better. She should turn up for this event from January 7-11 claws sharpened.
Like in the open section, a bulk of the success achieved by Indian women has come in the classical format. Things have started changing in rapid. In this format, Divya is 12th in the world, Harika 14th and Vaishali 20th. Vantika is well behind at 51st, while Rakshitta is more of a wild card than contender.
Russian Alexandra Goryachkina is the top seed. She is the reigning world champion in rapid, the world No. 2 and overwhelming favourite to nail the Kolkata title. Prominent from the rest of the field are Russian world No. 13 Kateryna Lagno and No. 19 Nana Dzagindze of Georgia.
The Russians are well ahead in rankings when it comes to blitz also. Lagno and Goryachkena are the No. 4 and 5, respectively. Stavroula Tsolakidou of Greece is 11th. Divya (18th), Vaishali (21st) and Harika (26th) are in the next rung. Even at the recent world blitz, Indian women didn’t do much.
Rankings, however, are only an indicator and not a predictor. It often doesn’t matter. Vantika is an example in the classical format, where despite being behind in the rankings, she put up a sterling show at the 2024 Olympiad. Vaishali claimed the 2024 world blitz bronze as an outsider. In the recent world rapid, there were four Indians in the top 10.
This is a generation of players keen to turn a new leaf. It was first documented in the men’s section and although slower in comparison, the women have made upward movement in the last two years. Divya led the charge. Humpy, Vaishali and Harika made crucial points. The next few days present them an opportunity to demonstrate their speed chess prowess.
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