Indian challengers fought hard and made things difficult for the overnight leaders at times. Almost till the end, it wasn’t clear which way it’s headed. However, Wesley So and Carissa Yip got the job done when needed to win the men’s and women’s blitz titles, respectively, at Tata Steel Chess India.
The USA double was completed after So overcame the questions posed by Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin. In the end, the highest-rated blitz player in the field won with a round to spare. The women’s competition went down to the wire. Vantika Agarwal did brilliantly to force a tie-breaker, which she lost.
Although So was confirmed as winner after the 17th of 18 rounds, it was closer than that. Starting the day half-a-point behind the American, Erigaisi lost to Nihal Sarin in the 11th round. So also made two draws, which meant the gap between the players remained the same. The crucial 15th round game between these two also ended in a draw.
That’s when it started going south for the Indian. Defeats against Hand Neimann of the USA and R Praggnanandhaa derailed Erigaisi’s campaign. So scored a point and-a-half from these two rounds to take an insurmountable lead. It completed a disappointing outing for Erigaisi, who came to Kolkata after winning two bronze medals at the World Rapid and Blitz in Doha last month.
Winner of the rapid title here, Nihal edged Erigaisi on tie-break score to finish second. Both finished with 11 points, while So recorded 12.
Competition was intense in the women’s section as well. D Harika and Aleksandra Goryachkina kept the pressure on Carissa and the latter even took the lead with three rounds to go. Harika was not far behind. However, both suffered defeats at a critical stage to fall behind. Under the circumstances, those were anticlimactic outcomes.
Vantika moved up unnoticed by winning her last three rounds. Carissa was one of her victims. Divya Deshmukh, who had a forgettable outing, held Carissa in the last round to help Vantika’s cause. Carissa, however, won the first tie-break game with black and drew the second to take home the title. Both winners were richer by $7,500.
Final standings
Open section
12: Wesley So (USA). 11: Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi. 10: Hans Niemann (USA), Vidit Gujrathi. 9.5: R Praggnanandhaa. 8.5: Wei Yi (China). 8: Viswanathan Anand. 6: Volodar Murzin (Russia). 4: Aravindh Chithambaram.
Women’s section
10.5: Carissa Yip (USA), Vantika Agarwal [Carissa won on tie-breaker]. 10: Stavroula Tsolakidou (Greece). 9.5: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia), R Vaishali. 8.5: Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Katreryna Lagno (Russia), Divya Deshmukh. 8: D Harika. 6.5: Rakshitta Ravi.
For More Sports Related News: Follow RevSportz
