Chennai girl R. Vaishali stunned former World champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and entered the quarterfinals of the first leg of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess on Wednesday.
Her 6-5 victory gave India something to cheer about after Koneru Humpy, the reigning World rapid champion, was shocked earlier in the day by Vietnam’s Le Thao Nguyen Pham. Humpy lost the match 4.5-5.5. The scores were level at 3.5 after the first two segments before Le Thao’s wins in the first two games of the final phase secured her a berth in the last eight stage.
Also through to the last eight are Kateryna Lagno of Russia, Ukraine’s Anna Ushenina and Ju Wenjun of China.
The results (first round): Kateryna Lagno (Rus) bt Ning Kaiyu (Chn) 8-3; Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz) lost to Anna Ushenina (Ukr) 2-9; Ju Wenjun (Chn) bt Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz) 7-3; Koneru Humpy (Ind) lost to Le Thao Nguyen Pham (Vie) 4.5-5.5; Antoaneta Stefanoa (Bul) lost to R. Vaishali (Ind) 5-6.
