Savitha Shri Wins Bronze At FIDE World Rapid Championships
Savitha Shri has won a bronze medal in the women’s FIDE World Rapid Championship. There were five Indians who had participated in the women’s event.
At the FIDE World Rapid Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, fifteen-year-old Indian WIM B Savitha Shri took home the bronze medal for the women’s tournament.
Savithashri finished third with an astounding eight points after 11 rounds despite being seeded 36th.
The kid, who had 6.5 points at the completion of the 8th round, added 1.5 points to finish the competition in a star-studded field on a positive note. Savitha’s chances of placing in the top two were hampered with a defeat to Zhansaya Abdumalik of Kazakhstan in the ninth round.
After recovering, she defeated Singaporean Qianyun Gong in Round 10 and tied with Kazakhstani Dinara Saduakassova in the decisive round.
After Viswanathan Anand and Humpy, Savitha Shri has become the third Indian to take home a medal from the world rapid championship.
Koneru Humpy, the top player for India and the Asian Games gold medalist, had to accept sixth place despite scoring eight points. She had returned to medal contention after a lackluster showing on day two.
Despite finishing on eight points together with Savitha, Humpy, a former world Rapid champion, and 2 other competitors, the youngster won bronze due to a higher tie-break score. Savitha had a stellar Tuesday, winning four straight games.
A well-known coach tweeted his congratulations to Savitha Shri and his wishes
“Hearty, I’d like to congratulate @SavithashriB on taking home the bronze medal at the world rapid championship!
I took the @ishafoundation inner engineering course, and it seemed to help me relax at key moments. Let this be a successful start!”
The Chennai player was praised by the All India Chess Federation as well.
“Savitha Shri B, 15, outperformed many well-known competitors to win the bronze medal in the World Women’s Rapid Chess Championship in Almaty. Salutations, Savitha!” China’s Tan Zhongyi won the competition after outlasting Saduakassova in a playoff.
The women’s competition featured five Indian competitors, while the Open competition featured fifteen.
Arjun Erigaisi, a 19-year-old Indian grandmaster, placed fifth in the Open competition, which was won by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.
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Erigaisi overcame Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) in the 13th and final round to earn nine points overall. Richard Rapport, Vladimir Artemiev, and Vladimir Fedoseev each earned nine points (Hungary).
After sharing the lead with Artemiev & Vincent Keymer (Germany) on 9 points, Carlsen overcame Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran in the decisive round to win by a wide margin of 10 points.
Nihal Sarin of India finished in 10th place with 8.5 points, while Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of the same country placed in 15th place.
The seasoned Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly finished in 20th place with 8.5 points, while the young GM Raunak Sadhwani (8 points) had to settle for 33rd.
Gujrathi, who had a mixed tournament performance, defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), the defending champion, in the 11th round. But his chances of placing higher in the competition were hurt by a loss to Keymer in the 12th round.
In the women’s competition, Padmini Rout finished in 38th position with six points, while GM D Harika finished in 39th place with the same number of points. Tania Sachdev finished 50th with 5.5 points.
