Two Keralites in hunt to become World Blitz Chess Champion, match Carlsen's score after 13 rounds
GM S L Narayanan and IM Goutham Krishna were on 9 points each, just a point behind the joint leaders after 13 rounds of World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha.
GM S L Narayanan and IM Goutham Krishna were on 9 points each, just a point behind the joint leaders after 13 rounds of World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha.
GM S L Narayanan and IM Goutham Krishna were on 9 points each, just a point behind the joint leaders after 13 rounds of World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha.
Two Malayali players have a decent chance to become world champions in chess as GM S L Narayanan and IM Goutham Krishna were just a point behind the joint leaders after the opening day of the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha on Monday.
Narayanan and Krishna were tied on 9 points, the same as World No 1 Magnus Carlsen. India's Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are in the lead on 10 points each.
Six more rounds will be played on Tuesday before the knockouts, meaning the leaderboard could change drastically. However, both Narayanan and Krishna have a real chance if they maintain their good start.
The experienced Narayanan was unlucky to end the day with a defeat against Lu Shanglei of China, but he had a couple of solid wins, including against India No 1 R Praggnanandhaa and Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
But the real surprise package was 15-year-old Goutham Krishna H, who has punched above his weight in the event, beating eight GMs, including American superstar Hans Moke Niemann. Both Narayanan and Krishna are natives of Thiruvananthapuram. Norwegian Carlsen is the reigning World Blitz champion. He emerged as the World Rapid Chess Champion on Sunday.