After a three-day rapid chess event at the Tata Steel Chess India Women’s Championship, the players headed towards a double round robin blitz contest. Reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun and Padma Shri award winner Harika Dronavalli made a strong comeback on the day one of Tata Steel Chess India Blitz held at National Library, Kolkata. At the end of the day Harika and Ju Wenjun was at the top of the table with 6.5 points followed jointly by Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh with 5 points. Tomorrow on the final day of the Women’s tournament of Tata Steel Chess India it’s going to be a tough battle among the players to decide the winner of Blitz.
Round 1: GM Harika Dronavalli, who had a quiet tournament in the rapid section began the blitz section with a victory over rapid champion, IM Divya Deshmukh. WIM Savitha Shri also started well with a win over IM Vantika Agrawal.GM Koneru Humpy and GM JuWenjun played out a draw.
Round 2: GM Harika Dronavalli made it two in two with a win over GM Nino Batsiashvili. IM Divya Deshmukh went down against World Champion, GM Ju Wenjun. GM Anna Ushenina won her game against IM Vantika Agrawal GM Koneru Humpy drew GM Irina Krush.
Round 3: IM Divya Deshmukh brought up her first win of the blitz event with a victory against GM Nino Batsiashvili. GM Harika Dronavalli notched her third consecutive victory with a win over WIM Savitha Shri. GM Ju Wenjun scored her second win in the blitz after defeating GM Irina Krush.
Round 4: GM Koneru Humpy won a nice game against IM Polina Shuvalova GM Harika Dronavalli was held to a draw by GM Anna Ushenina in a game that never looked to favour either side.
Round 5: GM Ju Wenjun went down against IM Polina Shuvalova
Round 6: GM Harika Dronavalli won the battle of the table toppers with a crucial victory over World Champion GM JuWenjun. IM Divya Deshmukh edged past IM Vantika Agrawal. Joint leader GM Koneru Humpy was held to a draw by GM Nino Batsiashvili.
Round 7: IM Divya Deshmukh continued her fight back to the top in the blitz section with a lucky victory over GM Anna Ushenina. GM Ju Wenjun bounced back after a tough loss to win against GM Nino Batsiashvili. The World Champion displayed great skills in the endgame making incremental improvements on every move. Tournament leader, GM Harika Dronavalli was held to a draw by GM Irina Krush
Round 8: IM Divya Deshmukh notched up a third consecutive victory, this time with a win over IM PolinaShuvalova. GM Harika Dronavalli was held to a draw by IM Vantika Agrawal. GM Ju Wenjun won against WIM Savitha Shri in a tightly contested match.
Round 9: The final round of the day saw lot of action as all games ended in decisive results.
Nothing separates table toppers, GM Harika Dronavalli and GM Ju Wenjun as they won their games against IM Polina Shuvalova and GM Anna Ushenina respectively. GM Koneru Humpy finished the day with a much needed victory against IM Divya Deshmukh.
