R Vaishali stuns former world chess champion

Web Desk

Young Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali pulled off an upset win over former world champion Antaoneta Stefanove in the first leg of FIDE Chess.com Women Speed Chess Championships.The Chennai-based Vaishali will face International Master Munkhzul Turmunkh of Mongolia in the quarterfinals later on Thursday.

Vaishali registered a 6-5 win over Bulgarian opponent late on Wednesday after having beaten strong players like Valentina Gunina and Alina Kashlinskaya in the qualifying stages.Meanwhile,reigning world champion Humpy went down to her Vietnamese rival in the first round.The scores were level at 3.5 points after the first two segment but the Vietnam player won the first two games of the final phase to secure a spot in the last eight.

Vaishali said that it was a delightful experience playing game with Stefanova.“Yeah,it was great to play a former world champion and defeat her,” she said to the media.”I was leading the match after one hour with 5.5-2.5 then in bullet segment internet got disconnected and I lost on time in an equal position,”she said after managing to defeat her in a finish.

The Chennai player is the sister of chess prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa.She won Asian Blitz Championship winner in 2017.The Grand Prix will consist of four legs,with a total of 21 partciapants. Each of the 21 participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs.Each of the 21 players participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs.Each GP is a 16-player knock out event.In each Grand Prix leg,every player scores cumulative points according to the position in the final standings.The two players who scores the highest number of cumulative grand prix points in all three Grand Prix legs qualify for the Super Final to be held on July 20.