Total Chess Pilot: Vaishali takes down Niemann and So in blitz

R Vaishali, only one among two female players in the Total Chess pilot underway in Budapest, put up an impressive show on the first day, taking down Hans Niemann and Wesley So in blitz on Tuesday. The tournament will be played across three time controls – blitz, rapid and fast classic.

The Indian GM, who is the lowest-rated player in the tournament, defeated both the American GMs and held Richard Rapport, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri to draws. “I’ve had some good blitz days, but this was probably the best,” Vaishali, who will play the Women’s World Championship match, told Chessbase India. “I was hoping to be in Magnus’s (Carlsen) group, but of course mine is also very strong – Wesley, Arjun (Erigaisi), Maxime (Vachier Lagrave). It's going to be a challenge.”

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While the nine-round blitz carries no points, world No.1 Carlsen ensured himself the best tiebreaks by finishing unbeaten at the top.

In contrast to Vaishali, the reigning women’s blitz world champion Bibisara Assauabayeva had a horror run in the blitz tournament losing eight games in a row and scoring just half a point from nine rounds.

In the fast classic section – 45 minutes with 30 second increment per move – that began on Wednesday, Carlsen and Anish Giri played out a tense draw, Erigaisi and Niemann drew their first game while Levon Aronian defeated Jorden Van Foreest. Players will play two games of fast classic – classical chess compressed into two hours – per day till November 15, before the tournament heads to the knockouts.