KOLKATA: Grandmaster Ju Wenjun was finally rewarded for playing the most consistent chess over the past five days. Two days after finishing second behind India’s Divya Deshmukh in the women’s rapid meet, she ended her maiden visit to India on a memorable note claiming the blitz title of Tata Steel Chess India tournament at the Bhasha Bhawan in the National Library of India campus on Monday.
It could have gone any way with GMs Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Ju in a three-way tie for the top spot with 10.5 points going into the penultimate round. But Harika, who was leading for a major part of the blitz competition, suffered a major setback as she lost to International Master Vantika Agrawal in 37 moves. While Humpy managed to hold GM Anna Ushenina surviving some tense moments, Ju scored the all-important win against WIM Savitha Shri to go into sole lead. The reigning World women’s champion seemed to have saved her best for the last as she clinched the title recording a hat-trick of wins in the last three rounds.
