World Rapid Championship 2025: Harika highest-ranked Indian among women; Humpy joint-third after four rounds

Harika Dronavalli was the highest-ranked Indian, sharing the second spot with six other players in the women’s rapid section of the FIDE World Rapid Championship, after four rounds in Doha on Friday.

Harika won the first games and drew with Nino Batsiashvili to remain joint-second with 3.5 points.

Batsiashvili, two former Women’s World Champions, Mariya Muzychuk and Antoaneta Stefanova, former women’s challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, Song Yuxin, and Sara Khadem are level with Harika and half a point short of the lone leader, Zhu Jiner.

Chinese chess prodigy Jiner has won all her games so far, securing strong positions in every encounter, including those against seasoned opponents such as Armenian Grandmaster Elina Danielian and Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze.

In Round 5, she will face Aleksandra Goryachkina, the former Women’s World Championship challenger.

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Defending Women’s Rapid Champion Koneru Humpy is joint-third with three points, level with Women’s World Champion in classical chess, Ju Wenjun.

Humpy, with two wins and as many draws, will next face Bat-Erdene Mungunzul from Mongolia, who had won individual gold at the 2022 Chess Olympiad.

Five other Indians, R. Vaishali, Padmini Rout, Divya Deshmukh, Rakshitta Ravi, and Savitha Shri Baskar, are on three points in the women’s rapid section.

(with inputs from PTI)

Published on Dec 27, 2025