New Delhi: 17-year-old Uzbek Grandmaster (GM) Nodirbek Abdusattorov and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2021 finals at the PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, on Wednesday.
Abdusattorov defeated reigning champion, GM Magnus Carlsen, of Norway, during the first round and proceeded to win a second tie-breaker blitz playoff against Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi by 1.5-0.5 points.
Abdusattorov became the youngest player to win the dramatic Swiss tournament with 9.5 points in 13 rounds.
Though Carlsen and GM Fabiano Caruana scored 9.5 points at the end of round 13, they failed to qualify for the playoffs due to a controversial tiebreak and ultimately settled for positions three and four, respectively.
Meanwhile, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the Women’s World Rapid Championship title this year by scoring a whopping 9 points in 11 rounds on Wednesday. She tactfully managed a 1.5 point lead ahead of others and her 17-year-old opponent International Master (IM) Bibisara Assaubayeva, who came second. GM Valentina Gunina ranked third.
(Avya Mathur)