World Rapid & Blitz C'ship: R Vaishali clinches bronze medal

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali defeated China's Zhu Jiner 2.5-1.5 to clinch the bronze medal in the women's section of the World Blitz Championship.

This caps a strong by the country's chess players after stalwart Koneru Humpy's title-winning show in the rapid event here.

Vaishali defeated China's Zhu Jiner 2.5-1.5 in the quarter-finals before losing to another Chinese opponent Ju Wenjun 0.5-2.5 in the semi-final.

In an event completely dominated by the Chinese, Ju Wenjun went on to snare the world title defeating compatriot Lei Tingjie 3.5-2.5.

Earlier in the tournament, Vaishali dominated the women's section- with a stellar count of eight wins and three draws – after 11 rounds – to make the knockouts.

Legendary chess player and current FIDE vice president Viswanathan Anand congratulated Vaishali for her efforts, saying it was a great way to end the year.

"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 on 'X'.

"We are so happy to be supporting her and her chess. 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)!" he wrote.

In the 'Open' section, world number one Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi shared the Blitz title after three sudden-death games failed to produce a winner.

This was the first time that the title was awarded to two players after Carlsen asked whether it could be shared given the deadlock.