New Delhi: India’s R. Vaishali won a bronze medal in the women’s section of the World Blitz Championship 2024 in New York on Wednesday. This was another strong performance by India’s chess player after Koneru Humpy’s title victory in the rapid event in New York.
Vaishali entered the quarterfinal and beat China’s Zhu Jiner before losing against another Chinese opponent Ju Wenjun 0.5-2.5 in the semifinal. In the final, Wenjun defeated compatriot Lei Tingjie and won the Women’s World Blitz Championship title.
Five-time world Champion and International Chess Federation (FIDE) vice-president Viswanathan Anand congratulated Vaishali for her brilliant performance and said that it was a great way to end the year.
Congratulations to @chessvaishali for taking Bronze. Her qualification was truly a power packed performance. Our @WacaChess mentee has done us proud. 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…
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) January 1, 2025
Who is R Vaishali?
The 23-year-old Vaishali is from Tamil Nadu and comes from a chess-oriented family. Her brother Praggnanandhaa achieved the Grand Master title at a remarkably young age of 12 years and seven months. She watched her brother’s journey very closely and worked hard towards achieving her goals. Balancing her studies with chess was a tough challenge for Vaishali and she admitted to not always making the most of the opportunities that have come her way.
Despite all the challenges, Vaishali achieved significant milestones in her chess career. She won the Girls’ World Youth Chess Championship in the under-12 and under-14 category. Her brilliant performances earned her the title of Woman International Master and Woman Grandmaster in 2016 and 2018 respectively after she completed her final norms in a tournament in Riga, Latvia.
Her success story continued in 2020 when she was part of Team India which won the gold medal in the Online Olympiad. In 2022, she secured her second Grandmaster norm by winning the 8th Fischer Memorial tournament. She also played a crucial role for the Indian Women’s chess team on Board 3 during the 44th Chess Olympiad where the team won a bronze medal.
She participated in the Tata Steel Challengers 2023 and emerged victorious against highly-rated Grandmasters. She is only the third female player to attain the grandmaster title after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.
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