New Delhi: Indian chess ace Koneru Humpy narrowly missed creating history at the FIDE World Rapid Championships, settling for a bronze medal in the women’s section after falling short on tie-breaks. Humpy, a former world rapid champion in 2019 and 2024, ended the tournament tied for first place on 8.5 points alongside China’s Zhu Jiner and Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina after the final round.
Despite matching the top score after 11 rounds, Humpy was pushed down to third position due to tie-break criteria that consider opponent strength and ratings. As a result, Zhu and Goryachkina advanced to contest the title, with Goryachkina eventually emerging champion to claim her maiden world rapid crown.
The decisive moment came in the final round, where Humpy drew her game against young Indian talent B Savitha Shri. A victory would have taken Humpy to nine points and secured an unprecedented third world rapid title, a feat yet to be achieved by any woman player. However, a missed winning opportunity allowed the game to stretch to 64 moves before ending in a draw.
Savitha finished an impressive fourth on eight points, while R. Vaishali placed fifth with the same score. Divya Deshmukh ended eighth with 7.5 points and D. Harika concluded the event in 19th place.
In the open section, world number one Magnus Carlsen once again underlined his dominance by capturing his sixth World Rapid title. After recovering from a mid-tournament setback, Carlsen surged ahead with a strong finish to end on 10.5 points. Russian grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev claimed silver, while India’s Arjun Erigaisi secured bronze with a late win to finish on 9.5 points.
Classical world champion D. Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and R. Praggnanandhaa all finished on 8.5 points further down the standings. Attention now shifts to the World Blitz Championships, where Carlsen will again start as the favourite.
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