KOLKATA: Indian youngsters continue to make waves as just days after 18-year-old Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa qualified for the Candidates meet, 17-year-old Divya Deshmukh and 20-year-old Vantika Agarwal ended Day I of the women’s rapid section of Tata Steel Chess India tournament at the Bhasha Bhawan in the National Library of India campus on the top of table with 2.5 points after three rounds on Thursday.
Deshmukh, who was a late entrant in place of Women’s Grandmaster R Vaishali, made early inroads taking down India No. 2 GM Harika Dronavalli with black pieces. The WGM then held reigning World champion Ju Wenjun and closed the day with another win against GM Nino Batsiashvili with black pieces. The Nagpur girl, however, expressed her displeasure in spite of drawing with the Chinese World champion. “I would much rather lose than draw like this,” she said about the quick result.
Vantika on the other hand was held by youngest contestant Savitha Shri in Round 1, but the International Master then beat reigning champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine with white and stunned GM Koneru Humpy in the last round to join Divya at the top.
Interestingly, India’s most experienced player Humpy brought the rear with 0.5 points while GM D Harika finished just a rung above her with one point. Wenjun stayed third with two points after recording her first victory on Indian soil when she overcame US GM Irina Krush after being held in the first two rounds against Humpy and Divya.
Harika, who preferred to rest coming right after the World Rapid Team Championship in Dusseldorf, Germany and skipped the draw ceremony on Wednesday, was not in her elements losing the first match to Divya and drawing GM Nino Batsiashvili and Savitha in the next two rounds.
