Divya Deshmukh clinches Gold at Asian Continental Blitz Women 2022, Mary Silver and Aravindh Bronze in Open
WGM Divya Deshmukh became the sole Indian to earn two medals at Asian Continental 2022. After securing Bronze in the Classical, she scored 7.5/9 to clinch the Gold in the Blitz Women event. Despite starting with a loss, she made 7.5/8 in the next eight games and finished a half point ahead of the field. WGM Mary Ann Gomes scored 7/9 to win secure the Silver medal. Former Asian Continental Women's champion, WGM Thi Kim Phung Vo (VIE) also finished with 7/9 to secure the Bronze medal according to tie-breaks. Kazakhstan no.1 GM Rinat Jumabayev scored 8/9 to win the Gold in the Open. IM Arystanbek Urazayev won the Silver 7.5/9 and GM Aravindh Chithambaram secured the Bronze 7/9. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
India claims a Gold, Silver and Bronze each
Unlike the Classical event, Indian players won all three Gold, Silver and Bronze medal each combining Open and Women's event. Kazakhstan and Vietnam claimed the remaining three. Overall, India outperformed all other remaining participating countries in terms of medal counts in both Classical and Blitz event. The total prize fund of the Blitz event was US$4200, $2400 in Open and $1800 in Women. Top three prizes in the Open were $1000, $800 and $600, and $800, $600 and $400 each among the Women.
Mary - Vantika, Round 6
Black's position seems to be in shambles after 30.e6 as her king is more vulnerable than White's. Undoubtedly this is WGM Mary Ann Gomes' (2224) favorite game en route her Silver medal as she played well throughout the game.
Kazakhstan no.1 GM Rinat Jumabayev (2561) stopped the seemingly unstoppable fellow compatriot, IM Arystanbek Urazayev (2441) in the seventh round. He made a blazing start of 7/7.
Aravindh - Laxman, Round 4
The reigning National Rapid and Blitz champion, GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2577) played an outstanding game to win against the Blitz King of India, GM Laxman R R (2375). The black king was eventually chased all the way to b4 while White avoided Rxg4+ threats by forcing his opponent's king. This is blitz game at its best.
Since prizes were shared among tied players, GM Sankalp Gupta (2402) shared the third prize and earned US$ 300. He scored an outstanding victory over the eventual Silver medalist IM Arystanbek Urazayev (KAZ, 2441) in a uber exciting encounter when the former sacrificed his bishop and knight.
Sankalp - Arystanbek, Round 9
In Blitz, you have to play intuitively as there is no time to calculate long variations. Whether 13.Bxe6 works or not is a secondary question in a Blitz game. 13...c5 14.Nf5 fxe6 15.Nxg7+ Kf7 16.Nxe6 Kxe6 17.Qc4+ and White eventually not recovered the material but also won convincingly punctuating with a checkmate. Sankalp took every chance he got and it paid off. Despite this loss, Arystanbek managed to finish second, thanks to his fantastic 7/7 start.
More incredible game videos from this event will be added soon, stay tuned.
A total of 83 players including 26 GMs and 36 IMs in the Open, 47 players including 7 IMs, 13 WGMs and 16 WIMs in the Women, took part from 13 countries across the world including India. The nine-round Swiss League Blitz tournament was held on 3rd November 2022 at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi. It was organized by Delhi Chess Association. The time control of the tournament was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Replay Round 1-9 Open games
Replay Round 1-9 Women games
Final standings in Open
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | Rp | ||
| 1 | 7 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | KAZ | 2561 | 8 | 2424 | 44,5 | 47,5 | 0 | 2765 | ||
| 2 | 21 | IM | Urazayev Arystanbek | KAZ | 2441 | 7 | 2452 | 48,5 | 50,5 | 0 | 2612 | ||
| 3 | 4 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2577 | 7 | 2444 | 46 | 50,5 | 0 | 2623 | ||
| 4 | 25 | GM | Sankalp Gupta | IND | 2402 | 7 | 2368 | 41 | 44 | 0 | 2574 | ||
| 5 | 35 | IM | Vignesh N R | IND | 2386 | 6,5 | 2490 | 49,5 | 54,5 | 0 | 2620 | ||
| 6 | 3 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2599 | 6,5 | 2437 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 0 | 2586 | ||
| 7 | 12 | GM | Harsha Bharathakoti | IND | 2523 | 6,5 | 2401 | 46 | 49,5 | 0 | 2554 | ||
| 8 | 22 | IM | Pranav V | IND | 2430 | 6,5 | 2361 | 40,5 | 44 | 0 | 2511 | ||
| 9 | 58 | FM | Nurmamedov Azat | TKM | 2282 | 6 | 2497 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 2612 | ||
| 10 | 47 | IM | Pranesh M | IND | 2342 | 6 | 2486 | 45 | 48,5 | 0 | 2598 |
Final standings in Women
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | Rp | ||
| 1 | 9 | WGM | Divya Deshmukh | w | IND | 2247 | 7,5 | 2166 | 42 | 45,5 | 0 | 2424 | |
| 2 | 12 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | w | IND | 2224 | 7 | 2224 | 49,5 | 52,5 | 0 | 2423 | |
| 3 | 6 | WGM | Vo Thi Kim Phung | w | VIE | 2261 | 7 | 2160 | 41,5 | 45 | 0 | 2335 | |
| 4 | 1 | IM | Tania Sachdev | w | IND | 2306 | 6,5 | 2171 | 41,5 | 44,5 | 0 | 2325 | |
| 5 | 3 | IM | Padmini Rout | w | IND | 2290 | 6,5 | 2164 | 47 | 50,5 | 0 | 2319 | |
| 6 | 5 | WGM | Vantika Agrawal | w | IND | 2262 | 6,5 | 2141 | 44,5 | 45 | 0 | 2296 | |
| 7 | 21 | WIM | Balabayeva Xeniya | w | KAZ | 2130 | 6 | 2219 | 41 | 44 | 0 | 2301 | |
| 8 | 28 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | w | IND | 2108 | 6 | 2208 | 43,5 | 46 | 0 | 2311 | |
| 9 | 23 | WIM | Rakshitta Ravi | w | IND | 2119 | 6 | 2179 | 43 | 45,5 | 0 | 2257 | |
| 10 | 2 | IM | Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel | w | MGL | 2304 | 6 | 2151 | 37,5 | 40,5 | 0 | 2267 |
