India’s R Vaishali won bronze in the women’s category of the World Blitz Championship, a rapid chess competition.
Vaishali, who defeated China’s Xu Jiner 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals, lost to another Chinese opponent, Zhu Wenjun 0.5-2.5 in the semifinals. Zhu Wenjun won the world title with a score of 3.5-2.5 in a match completely dominated by the Chinese.
Five-time world champion and International Chess Federation (FIDE) Vice President Viswanathan Anand came forward to congratulate Vaishali.
We are very happy to support her and her chess. We were able to end 2024 on a very good note. We thought we would get stronger chess players in 2021. But now we have a world champion (Humpi) and a bronze medalist (Vaishali),” he wrote.
Vaishali, 23, is the younger sister of Indian Grandmaster Praggnanandha. They are the first siblings to achieve the Grandmaster title. Both were part of the team when India won gold in both the men’s and women’s categories at the 2024 Chess Olympiad.
