Vaishali in the Quarter-Finals of FIDE chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/06/2020

India no.3 woman WGM Vaishali R defeated former Women's World Champion and wildcard of the event GM Antoaneta Stefanova by 6-5 to advance to the Quarter-Finals of FIDE chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship. She will face WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul of Mongolia in the Quarter-Finals today at 6 pm IST. Reigning Women's World Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy is one of the nine seeded players and India no.2 woman GM Harika Dronavalli qualified to the WSCC Grand Prix by finishing in the top two of Qualifier 3 which was a 21-round Bullet (1+1) event where she whitewashed GM Valentina Gunina and IM Alina Kashlinskaya 2-0 each respectively to earn her spot in the GP. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Humpy, Harika and Vaishali will play in the Grand Prix

WGM Vaishali R has qualified for the Quarter-finals of FIDE chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship. She defeated the Wildcard former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova in the Round of 16 to advance to the Quarter-final stage. The wildcard was decided by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and wildcard could play only one out of the four events. Vaishali will face WIM Turmunkh Munkhzul who defeated former Women's World Rapid and Blitz Champion Anna Muzychuk 5.5-4.5 to advance to the QF. While on paper Vaishali seems to have the relatively easier opponent out of the remaining six players, make no mistake that she defeated Anna Muzychuk who is at her best in the faster formats.

The only Indian left in FIDE chess.com GP Leg 1 is WGM Vaishali R | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Round of 16

In the Round of 16 or Pre-Quarter finals, Vaishali faced the event wildcard former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova. They played a total eleven games and Stefanova lost to Vaishali by a score of 5-6. Now before we see the games, we need to be aware of the rules of each GP matches.

All matches in each Grand Prix leg are divided into three segments:

• 30-minute segment of matches with the time control 5 minutes + 1 second per move (Blitz)

• 30-minute segment of matches with the time control 3 minutes + 1 second per move (Blitz)

• 10-minute segment of matches with the time control 1 minute + 1 second per move (Bullet)

Vaishali and Stefanova played three 5+1 games in the first segment, then five 3+1 games in the second segment and then in the final segment they played three 1+1 games. In the first segment the score was 0.5-2.5 in Vaishali's favor, in the second segment also the score was in Vaishali's favor 2.5-5.5 and in the final segment Vaishali scored a draw only and lost two games. In spite of the losses in the Bullet games, Vaishali the match overall as she had a huge lead. Final score was 5-6 in Vaishali's favor.

Stefanova - Vaishali, Game 1

Position after 25.Nh4

It all went downhill for white after 25.Nh4. Find out why

Vaishali won a 90-move long marathon battle in Game 2

In the first game of 3+1, Vaishali scored a miniature win over Stefanova in just 14 moves.

The final win against the Bulgaria no.1 woman came in the final game of the 3+1 segment.

Vaishali - Stefanova, Game 8

Position after 26...Rxd3

Black just blundered a piece with 26...Rxd3

Stefanova made a strong finish but it was just not enough | Photo: FIDE

Round of 16 results | Photo: chess.com

Quarter-final matches will take place today | Photo: chess.com

Replay all games between Stefanova-Vaishali in Round of 16

Vaishali qualified to the GP along with WGM Deysi Cori by finishing in the top two of the Qualifier 5 held on 21st June with a score of 10/13 in a 13-round Swiss League event with a time control of 3+1. She defeated GM Nino Batsiashvili, IM Natalia Buksa, drew with IM Padmini Rout, IM Karina Cyfka and the eventual winner of the Qualifier WGM Olga Girya.

Replay Vaishali's Qualifier 5 games

In the Playoff Vaishali defeated IM Alina Kashlinskaya and GM Valentina Gunina. It goes without saying that both of them are incredibly strong players.

Vaishali defeated both Kaslinskaya and Gunina to advance to the Round of 16 | Sourcel: chess.com

Replay Vaishali's Playoff games

Quarter-Finals Schedule

Quarter-Finals will take place today | Source: chess.com

Prizes

GP Points and Prizes | Source: chess.com

GP Players

Women's Speed Chess Championship has nine seeded players, among them reigning Women's World Rapid Champion GM Koneru Humpy is there | Source: chess.com

Each leg is a 16-player knockout event and will last five days (including one rest day after the semi-finals). The dates will be June 24-28th, July 1-5th, July 8-12th and July 15-19th, with games starting at 14:30 CET (6 p.m. IST)

Each player will play three out of the four legs in the Grand Prix | Source: chess.com

Apart from Vaishali, GM Harika Dronavalli also qualified by finishing in the top two of 21-round Bullet (1+1) Swiss League event on 20th June 2020.

Harika also had a similar path like Vaishali but she whitewashed both Gunina and Kashlinskaya 2-0 | Source: chess.com

GM Harika Dronavalli qualified to the Women's Speed Chess Championship by finishing in the top two of a Bullet tournament | Photo: FIDE

Harika will play the second leg which starts from 1st July.

Replay all Harika's games from Qualifier 3

Links

FIDE

chess.com

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