Vaishali stuns Niemann and So in Total Chess blitz; Carlsen tops standings

R. Vaishali defeated Hans Niemann and Wesley So with the black pieces in the opening blitz competition of the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot in Budapest on Tuesday, producing two major upsets in the event’s opening phase. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen won the blitz section, finishing unbeaten.

The 24-player blitz took place at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel, where Vaishali finished 17th with four points from nine rounds, recording two wins, four draws and three defeats. The Indian grandmaster was the lowest-rated blitz player in the field and recovered from a difficult position against Niemann by capitalising on his end-game error. After a loss to Vladislav Artemiev, she produced the victory over So in the third round. Vaishali also held Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Richard Rapport, Anish Giri and Bibisara Assaubayeva to draws during the blitz.

Carlsen completed the nine-round blitz without defeat, scoring seven points from five victories and four draws. He secured his final-round win over Haik Martirosyan with the black pieces to finish ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who had 6.5 points, and Levon Aronian on six points.

Arjun Erigaisi was placed sixth on tie-break with 5.5 points after losing the final round to Aronian. R. Praggnanandhaa ended the blitz in 14th position with 4.5 points following a win over Andrew Hong.

Bibisara Assaubayeva finished last with half a point, drawing with Vaishali after suffering eight straight defeats prior to that drawn game. The blitz standings will be used to break ties in the upcoming group stage and to determine the semifinal match-ups in the knockout phase.

The Fast Classic group stage begins on Wednesday, with Vaishali scheduled to meet Niemann and So again in Group D; that group also includes Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Bibisara Assaubayeva. In the Fast Classic each player faces the other five twice and only the group winner remains in title contention.

Fast Classic games are played at 45 minutes per player with a 30-second increment, with two games scheduled daily through Sunday; a win counts for three points and a draw for one. (The writer is in Budapest at the invitation of Total Chess).