Koneru Humpy put the exclamation mark on a landmark year for Indian chess, by winning the FIDE World Rapid Championship in New York on Saturday evening. For India's top women's chess player, it was her second world rapid title, and the fourth time she has finished in the top three of the event.
Humpy secured the clinching win against Indonesia's Irene Sukandar with the black pieces in the final round of the tournament, to finish with a score of 8.5/11 and win the title. She became only the second player to win multiple women's world rapid titles after China's Ju Wenjun.
Humpy had previously won this title in 2019, apart from finishing third in 2012, and second in 2023. She added this title to a glittering 2024 for Indian chess, which has included victories in both the open and women's section of the Chess Olympiad, and D Gukesh becoming world champion by beating Ding Liren in Singapore earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in the open section, 18-year-old Russian Volodar Murzin pulled off a stunning title victory, having pulled off wins over fancied players like Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and R Praggnanandhaa. Murzin became the second youngest player to win the world rapid title in the open section, after Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who won the title aged 17.
India's Arjun Erigaisi finished 5th, a point behind Murzin. Erigaisi was part of a group of players who led the event at the start of day 3, on which four rounds were played. However, he only managed two points out of four, including a win over Abdusattorov, to finish with 9 points out of 13.
Humpy scores clutch last-round win to secure title
Humpy went into the final round in the joint-lead, alongside a few other players, including fellow Indian Harika Dronavalli. That remained the case until the start of the 11th and final round, where Humpy faced Sukandar, and Harika faced China's Tan Zhongyi. Harika only managed a draw, but Humpy wasn't satisfied with just that.
�� Congratulations to ���� Humpy Koneru, the 2024 FIDE Women's World Rapid Champion! ��#RapidBlitz #WomenInChess pic.twitter.com/CCg3nrtZAV
- International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 28, 2024
She played a superb endgame against Sukandar, and finally took the win. Sukandar was one of the joint-leaders before the final round began, but fell short with the white pieces. Eventually, six players finished half a point below Humpy, including Harika.
Congratulations @humpy_koneru ������ on becoming the 2024 Women's World Rapid champion! The final round endgame was such a class�� https://t.co/FpFyGBYs9P
- Harikrishna (@HariChess) December 28, 2024
Arjun Erigaisi doesn't qualify for Candidates just yet
Erigaisi had to win this tournament or win via tie-breaks after finishing joint-first to accumulate enough points to beat Caruana to winning the 2024 FIDE circuit, which would have assured him of a spot in the Candidates tournament to decide Gukesh's challenger for the next world championship.
It has been a great year for the man from Warangal in Andhra Pradesh - one in which he broke through the coveted 2800 rating points in classical chess. He had a largely excellent tournament in New York too, but on the final day, just couldn't get the results that he needed.
After Caruana won the St. Louis Masters earlier this month, Arjun fought hard at the Qatar Masters but finished second. Had he won that, he would've overtaken Caruana. A win here at the world rapid championships would've taken Arjun to just a point more than Caruana, but that hasn't happened.
Schedule - Blitz
Timings in IST
December 31
12.30 AM: Round 1
1.00 AM: Round 2
1.30 AM: Round 3
2.00 AM: Round 4
2.30 AM: Round 5
3.00 AM: Round 6
3.30 AM: Round 7
4.00 AM: Round 8
4.30 AM: Round 9
5.00 AM: Round 10
5.30 AM: Round 11
6.00 AM: Round 12
6.30 AM: Round 13
January 1
• 12.30 AM: Quarterfinals
• 2.00 AM: Semifinals
• 3.30 AM: Final
Livestream
The tournament will be livestreamed on the official FIDE YouTube channel.