Young Indian Grandmaster R. Vaishali in the Women's Speed Chess Championship by defeating former world champion Antoneta Stefanova came on top. Vaishali, who lives in Chennai, will face Mongolia's International Master Munkhzul Turmunkh in the quarter-finals.
Vaishali won 6-5 against her rival from Bulgaria. Earlier, she had defeated strong players like Valentina Gunina and Elena Klyshinskaya in the qualifying stage, but the current world rapid champion Hampi suffered a 4.5–5.5 defeat to her rival Li Thao Nguyen Pham of Vietnam in the first leg. After the first two cycles, both players were at the same score of 3.5, but the Vietnamese player won the first two games in the last round.
Vaishali expressed happiness over the victory over Stefanova. She told PTI, 'It was a great experience to face the former world champion and win it. I was leading 5.5-2.5 after the first hour, but I lost due to a poor internet connection. 'Vaishali, a Chennai based chess player is the sister of R. Praggnanandhaa. He won the Asian Blitz Championship in 2017. The Grand Prix will be held in four stages, in which a total of 21 players will participate. Each of these players has to participate in four to three stages. Each Grand Prix will be a knockout tournament of 16 players in which the first leg will be played from 24 to 28 June. The prize money for each Grand Prix is $ 10,300, of which the winner will receive $ 3,000.
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