Eventually, it was a massive heartbreak for K. Humpy. After dominating her younger, lower-ranked rival Anastasia Bodnaruk in the nervy tie-break games, Humpy ran out of time on her clock after gaining an extra piece in the second 3-minute sudden-death blitz game and left the 51st seeded Russian with the women’s World rapid chess title in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) on Thursday.
Humpy, seeded eight, was lucky to win the first tie-break game with black after being very low on time. Bodnaruk was fortunate to checkmate a dominant Humpy, who overlooked a one-move defence to get the draw needed to win the title.
Humpy again had the better of the exchanges in the first sudden-death game that ended with the players repeating the moves. In the next game, Humpy looked well on her way to the title after picking up a knight but her poor time-management returned to haunt her. After holding the upper hand, she was crestfallen when she was declared lost on time.
On the final day, Humpy played all three Russian rivals. She drew with Bodnaruk and Leya Garifullina before defeating Kateryna Lagno to force a three-way tie at 8.5 points from 11 rounds.
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Since the rules allow only the top-two players to figure in the tie-break blitz games, Lei Tingjie was left out. On the brighter side, as per the rules, those tied for the top spot received 50,000 euros each.
In the Open section, there was no surprise with Magnus Carlsen playing out a safe draw with R. Praggnanandhaa to keep the title with a tally of 10 points from 13 rounds.
Vladimir Fedoseev, who defeated Nihal Sarin in a 156-move marathon in the 11th round and Vidit Gujrathi in the 12th, finished runner-up.
China’s Yangyi took the third spot after heading a 12-way tie for third place at 9 points. This pack included fourth-placed Vidit and eighth-placed Praggnanandhaa.
Over the next two days, the battle will be on for the next World blitz champion.
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