KOLKATA: The country’s and Bengal’s latest Grandmaster Mitrabha Guha played some sensational chess to finish an impressive 15th position in the open section of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship that concluded in Warsaw on Tuesday.
Guha ended up with 8.5 points which was just one point behind champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov (9.5) of Uzbekistan. The 17-year-old, who shocked big names like USA’s Levon Aronian, Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Israel’s Boris Gelfand, stunned World champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen too in the 10th round to become the youngest World rapid champion..
Guha performed way over his rating of 2107 to shock Norwegian GM Aryan Tari (2542), Kazakh Rinat Jumabayev (2562) and Russian Alexandr Predke (2630) before holding another Russian, ninth seed Sergey Karjakin (2757) to finish as the second-best Indian in the open section after 13 rounds. Only his countrymate D Gukesh could finish above Guha.
Interestingly, both the players were among the three lowest-rated Indian male players in the fray.
The Kolkata boy ended above much-fancied and experienced Indian GMs like Vidit Gujrathi who took the 45th spot with 7.5 points and highest-ranked Indian player P Harikrishna who ended 99th with 6.5 points.
Young GM Gukesh, who scored nine points to finish a creditable ninth, pulled off a superb win against veteran Gelfand in the 10th round and followed it up with a victory over Jobava Baadur of Georgia in the next round late on Tuesday. He drew his last two games against eventual winner Abdusattorov and Alexander Grischuk. India’s latest sensation Arjun Erigaisi ended with a disappointing six points only.
Defending champion Koneru Humpy failed to live up to her billing, finishing sixth with 7.5 points in the women’s section which was won by Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. R Vaishali was the next best Indian woman finishing in the 14th spot with seven points followed by Vantika Agrawal (6 points, 38th place), and Padmini Rout (5.5, 49th).
