World Rapid Chess: Humpy, Divya among leaders after Round 7
Vladislav Artemiev took the sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the World Rapid Chess Championship on Friday. The Russian, who stunned the top seed Magnus Carlsen, had 6.5 points from seven rounds.
With another six rounds remaining, as many as 12 players were in second place with 5.5 points each. Among them were the two Indians D. Gukesh and Nihal Sarin.
On five points were Arjun Erigaisi, H. Goutham Krishna, Aravindh Chithambaram, R. Praggnanandhaa, and S.L. Narayanan, among others.
READ: Gukesh, Erigaisi in joint lead with Carlsen after five rounds of FIDE World Rapid Championship
In the women’s event, defending champion Koneru Humpy and the World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh were among the eight leaders. Humpy defeated Yana Zhapova of Russia with black pieces, while Divya beat former world champion Antoeneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.
Nino Batsiashvili, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Zhu Jiner, Mariya Muzychuk, Lei Tingjie, and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh are the others on five points after six rounds.
With five rounds remaining, D. Harika had 4.5 points, along with seven others. Harika drew her sixth-round game with Meri Arabidze of Georgia.
R. Vaishali, Padmini Rout, B. Savitha Shri, and Rakshitta Ravi had four points each.
Published on Dec 27, 2025