New Delhi, Jan 1 (Agency) India’s R Vaishali has made the nation proud by winning the bronze medal in the women’s section of the World Blitz Chess Championship. Her remarkable achievement came after a stellar performance in the quarterfinals, where she defeated China’s Zhu Jiner 2.5-1.5. Despite her impressive run, Vaishali’s journey to the gold was halted in the semifinals by another Chinese opponent, Ju Wenjun.Vaishali, who had shown tremendous promise throughout the competition, was outclassed by Wenjun, who won the match 2.5-0.5. Wenjun went on to claim the world title, defeating her compatriot Lei Tingjie 3.5-2.5 in the final.Viswanathan Anand, India’s legendary chess player and vice-president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), expressed his admiration for Vaishali’s achievement. Taking to X, Anand congratulated Vaishali for her incredible performance. “Congratulations to Vaishali for taking bronze.
Her qualification was truly a power-packed performance. Our Waca Chess mentee (WestBridge Anand Chess Academy) has done us proud,” Anand wrote. He further celebrated the year’s success, saying, “What a way to wrap up 2024. In 2021, we thought we would get stronger chess players but here we have it—a World Champion (Humpy) and a Bronze medallist (Vaishali)! “In the ‘Open’ section, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen was forced to share the Blitz title with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. After three sudden-death games failed to produce a winner, Carlsen reflected on the day’s intense competition. “We reached a point where it had been a long day. We played many games, we had three draws, and I felt that I could keep playing. But it was a nice solution to share the win, it was a good way to end it,” Carlsen said. Vaishali’s historic victory marks a significant milestone in Indian chess, adding to the growing list of international achievements by Indian players.