It was perhaps fitting that Ju Wenjun finished it off with a queen check. She is the reigning queen of international chess, after all.
The win against Anna Ushenina in the final round gave her the blitz title at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament at the National Library on Monday. The 32-year-old from China has been the World champion since 2018, her latest triumph coming just six weeks ago.
She was given a stiff fight, though, by Koneru Humpy, the undisputed Indian queen for the last couple of decades. The former World rapid champion from Vijayawada, seeded second here, had to settle for the runner-up spot, despite winning her last–round encounter against the rapid champion Divya Deshmukh.
Humpy scored 12 points, just half a point behind Ju. Third seed Dronavalli Harika ended up third, while Divya, whom Humpy later described as the next star, was fourth.
The final day had begun with Harika and Ju on top of the table. But in the day’s first game, Humpy defeated Ju to strengthen her bid for the top prize.
A draw in the penultimate draw with Ushenina would prove costly in the end for Humpy, as would the shock defeat for Harika to Vantika Agrwal. Ju’s win over B. Savitha Shri gave her a half-a-point lead, going into the final round.
The Open tournament begins on Tuesday. R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh would very much be in the focus, after their recent exploits, though Nihal Sarin, who won the blitz event last year, is missing from the strong field, headed by France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave .
The results (18th round, Indians unless specified): Divya Deshmukh lost to Koneru Humpy; Anna Ushenina (Ukr) lost to Ju Wenjun (Chn); B. Savitha Shri lost to Irina Krush; Nino Batsiashvili (Geo) bt Vantika Agrawal; Dronavalli Harika lost to Polina Shuvalova (FIDE).
17th round: Shuvalova drew with Divya; Vantika bt Harika; Krush lost to Batsiashvili; Ju bt Savitha; Humpy drew with Ushenina.
16th round: Divya bt Ushenina; Savitha lost to Humpy; Batsiashvili lost to Ju; Harika drew with Krush; Shuvalova lost toVantika.
The standings: 1. Ju 12.5 points; 2. Humpy 12; 3-4. Harika and Divya 10.5; 5. Shuvalova 10; 6. Krush 9; 7-8 Ushenina & Vantika 7; 9. Batsiashvili 6; 10. Savitha 5.5.
