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.
