World Rapid and Blitz Championship review: Erigaisi, Humpy Koneru return with bronze medals

Of the 12 medals on offer at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, India claimed three. That is not bad, but last year India had a title – Koneru Humpy had won the World Rapid Championship, and this time around she had to settle for bronze.

The other two bronze were won by Arjun Erigaisi. In the Blitz event on Tuesday, he had topped the Swiss league, scoring 15 points from 19 rounds, that is one point more than Magnus Carlsen, but he lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the semifinal.

Carlsen had finished second in the league from which the top four made it to the knockout phase. He defeated Fabiano Caruana in the semifinal. It was indeed a superb recovery by the World No. 1 after his loss to Erigaisi in the ninth round. He proved yet again that he was in a class of his own, as he won the final against Abdusattorov.

Koneru Humpy (right) had won the gold at the World Rapid Championship in 2024 but had to settle for a bronze this time.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

The 38-year-old Humpy had come close to defending her crown, but in the final round, a wrong bishop move destroyed her dreams. And that was in a game against another Indian – B. Savitha Shri, who had won the bronze in 2022.

After drawing that game Savitha went on to finish fourth. She had below-par in the Blitz event though, which was won for the third time by Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, who defeated Anna Muzychuk, in the final

The highest-placed Indian was Divya Deshmukh, who finished 22nd, while Humpy was 23rd.

Published on Dec 31, 2025