Vaishali secures spot in World Blitz Championship quarterfinals with strong performance

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali won the women's qualifier for the World Blitz Championship, scoring 9.5 points. She will advance to the quarterfinals, where she will face Chinese Grandmaster Zhu Jiner. Russian Kateryna Lagno finished second with 8.5 points, while six other players scored 8 points. Indian player Koneru Humpy, despite meeting the points criteria, was eliminated due to a tiebreaker, finishing ninth. In the open section, Ian Nepomniachtchi topped the qualifiers with 9.5 points. Magnus Carlsen finished third, while no Indian players made the top eight in this category.