Indian chess prodigy Vaishali Rameshbabu finished third at the 2024 World Blitz Championship in New York, thanks to a strong performance in the knockout rounds. As India’s Vaishali won a record bronze medal in the Women’s category, former world champion and mentor Viswanathan Anand complimented the 23-year-old rising star on her determination and performance. China’s Ju Wenjun, who had previously beaten Vaishali in back-to-back games.
She triumphed over her compatriot Lei Tingjie in a gripping final, demonstrating her tactical skill and endurance. Vaishali remained unbeaten in the group stages, finishing with 9.5 points, one full point ahead of the second place. She drew three while pocketing as many as eight wins. To claim the top slot, Vaishali defeated some of the biggest names in women’s chess, including Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze, Poland’s Polina Shuvalova, and Russia’s Valentina Gunina.
She was also the only Indian to qualify for the second stage as freshly crowned World Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy finished ninth with 8.0/11, narrowly missing out on the spot. Wenjun’s title retains her dominance in women’s chess as she wins another global championship. After the former Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand applauded Clinching Bronze the Indian Grandmaster.
Vaishali’s Breakthrough
Anand wrote on X, 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 players but here we have it a World Champion and a Bronze medallist!
After walking out of the tournament midway due to being pulled up for wearing jeans, world No.1 Carlsen returned to play the blitz event after Fide president Arkady Dvorkovich intervened and relaxed the clothing requirement. Carlsen arrived in jeans for Day 1 of the blitz event and landed a jeans business agreement as a result of the whole denim incident. The Norwegian former world champion has reportedly signed with G-Star.
