World Rapid 2019 Day two: Harika and Humpy in with chance for a medal

by Satanick Mukhuty - 28/12/2019

After playing eight rounds in the women section of the ongoing World Rapid 2019 Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli have still kept the country's medal hopes alive. Both of them have scored 6.5/8 points each so far and are just half a point behind the leaders Irina Bulmaga, Tan Zhongyi, Lei Tingjie, and Mariya Muzychuk. In the open group Adhiban Baskaran has the highest score among the Indians; while players like Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani are stealing the show by holding their own against experienced higher-rated opposition. We bring you a quick express report.

The women section of the ongoing King Salman World Rapid has only two Indians, namely Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli, but both of them are performing commendably well and have kept the country's medal hopes alive in the event. Koneru defeated the strong Georgian Grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze in the eighth round, while Harika has remained unbeaten so far holding her own against players like Kateryna Lagno and Alina Kashlinskaya.

Humpy faces the Russian-Turkish player Ekaterina Atalik in the ninth round with black pieces. With four rounds still remaining she has all the chances to make it to the top of the leaderboard | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Humpy is already gaining a substantial 25.2 Elo points from her performance.

Harika's round nine encounter against Anna Muzychuk will certainly be a game to look out for | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Harika too is performing at a rating of 2524 and is just half a point behind the leaders even after starting off as the 16th seed in the event.

Standings after eight rounds (Women)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	24	IM	Bulmaga Irina	ROU	2383	6,5	39,0	42,0	2392	0,0
2	6	GM	Tan Zhongyi	CHN	2496	6,5	38,0	42,0	2346	0,0
3	5	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2498	6,5	37,0	38,5	2369	0,0
4	4	GM	Muzychuk Mariya	UKR	2518	6,5	34,0	37,5	2335	0,0
5	13	GM	Koneru Humpy	IND	2438	6,0	38,5	40,5	2388	0,0
6	30	WGM	Girya Olga	RUS	2365	6,0	37,5	40,5	2441	0,0
7	3	GM	Lagno Kateryna	RUS	2533	6,0	34,0	37,0	2350	0,0
8	16	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2425	6,0	33,0	35,5	2353	0,0
9	31	IM	Atalik Ekaterina	TUR	2360	6,0	32,5	34,5	2339	0,0
10	1	GM	Muzychuk Anna	UKR	2592	6,0	32,0	35,0	2350	0,0

In the open section, Vidit Gujrathi started off as the highest rated Indian player but he has slowed down to draw consecutive games in the last three rounds. Adhiban Baskaran instead has risen up to the occasion and is now the highest ranked among all Indians with 6.5/11 points.

Vidit has to play the last four rounds really well to ensure a strong finish | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Adhiban Baskaran on the other hand hasn't failed to show his beastly form, winning three games in a row from rounds seven to nine and holding Boris Gelfand to a draw in round ten. However he had suffer a defeat in the eleventh round against Alexander Motylev | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Adhiban explains his win against Georg Meier from round nine | Video: ChessBase India

Raunak Sadhwani is playing the World Rapid and Blitz event for the first time and he has clearly played some very solid chess to prove his mettle which is reflected in the fact he is already gaining over 70 Elo points. Check out the youngster's interview with IM Sagar Shah in the video below | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nihal Sarin is already gaining a whopping 94.8 Elo points. The Indian wunderkind started with a rapid rating of only 2292 but in terms of actual strength he is no doubt head and shoulders ahead of that mark | Photo: Pierre Textoris

Check out Nihal holding the strong Azerbaijani GM Rauf Mamedov to a draw | Video: ChessBase India

The winner of the recently concluded Indian Championship and the triple-crown National Champion Aravindh Chithambaram is fighting it out tenaciously with the World's elite. He has so far held his own against an impressive list of players that include Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, and Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Standings after eleven rounds (Open)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	NOR	2886	8,5	67,5	72,0	2696	0,0
2	9	GM	Dominguez Perez Leinier	USA	2755	8,0	67,5	72,0	2681	0,0
3	6	GM	Aronian Levon	ARM	2784	8,0	66,5	70,0	2664	0,0
4	2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	FRA	2873	8,0	66,0	69,5	2685	0,0
5	3	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	USA	2819	8,0	63,0	68,0	2668	0,0
6	12	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	AZE	2752	7,5	72,0	77,0	2708	0,0
7	17	GM	Wang Hao	CHN	2748	7,5	71,5	76,0	2719	0,0
8	20	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	RUS	2745	7,5	70,0	75,5	2660	0,0
9	95	GM	Smirin Ilia	ISR	2584	7,5	69,5	74,5	2733	0,0
10	38	GM	Guseinov Gadir	AZE	2691	7,5	68,0	72,5	2669	0,0

Overview of Indian performances

SNo		Name	Rtg	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	Rk.	Group
48	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2668	½	1	½	0	½	1	½	1	½	½	6,0	53	Rapid Open
72	GM	Adhiban B.	2607	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	½	6,5	30	Rapid Open
81	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2601	1	0	1	½	½	½	0	1	0	0	4,5	129	Rapid Open
91	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2592	1	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	6,0	46	Rapid Open
111	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2560	½	0	1	½	1	½	½	½	1	0	5,5	73	Rapid Open
130	GM	Narayanan Srinath	2526	½	0	1	½	1	0	0	1	0	1	5,0	106	Rapid Open
138	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2508	1	½	0	1	1	1	0	½	1	0	6,0	40	Rapid Open
164	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	2438	1	0	0	1	½	0	1	0	0	1	4,5	136	Rapid Open
170	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2418	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	½	½	0	4,0	155	Rapid Open
180	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2358	0	1	1	0	1	½	0	1	½	½	5,5	89	Rapid Open
189	GM	Nihal Sarin	2292	1	0	½	1	1	0	1	½	½	½	6,0	48	Rapid Open
207	GM	Gukesh D	1799	1	½	0	0	½	0	0	1	1	0	4,0	157	Rapid Open
13	GM	Koneru Humpy	2438	1	½	1	1	1	0	½	1			6,0	5	Rapid Women
16	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2425	1	½	1	1	½	1	½	½			6,0	8	Rapid Women

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