Harika Dronavalli Wins 1st Women's 'Online' Blitz Championship

Harika Dronavalli won the first FIDE World Online Women Blitz Championship. The final was held last Thursday with all participants together in Rome playing on laptops.

FIDE's online championship for women started with eight qualifier (Swiss) tournaments from June 2015 onwards, followed by a semifinal and a final tournament on 26 November 2015. The time control in all tournaments was three minutes for the game plus two seconds increment per move.

Eight players qualified for the final in Rome: Harika Dronavalli (India), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Olga Zimina (Italy), Irina Vasilevich (Russia), Sabina-Francesca Foisor (USA), Adriana Nikolova (Bulgaria), Padmini Rout (India), and Sofio Gvetadze (Georgia).

Two wild cards were added: Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, nominated by the FIDE President) and Valentina Gunina (Russia, nominated by the Commission for Women’s Chess).

So far so good, but now it gets kind of funny. Or surreal, if you will.

The organizers thought it was a nice idea to invite the ten finalists and pay for their flights and hotels. As a result, the players were in a playing hall (the Circolo Canottieri Aniene in Rome), sitting at a table, facing each other, but with two laptops placed in between.

A chess board, some pieces and a clock was an obvious alternative, but then... it wouldn't have been online chess.

Ongoing time troubles in the 1st FIDE World Online Women Blitz Ch! Live: https://t.co/oMXwBsqNhv #chess pic.twitter.com/nFBsLXxoDW

— Alina l'Ami (@alinalami) November 26, 2015

@ChessVibes Keeping up with the modern times ;)

— Alina l'Ami (@alinalami) November 26, 2015

@alinalami @ChessVibes Hillarious. I don't think Mr. Internet had that in mind when he invented his brainchild. :)

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) November 26, 2015

What's the point of an online #chess tournament if all the participants are in the same room? Dumbest thing ever! https://t.co/mGpCJnqFqL

— David Llada ♔ (@lladini) November 27, 2015

If all the players have to fly to Rome, you can't call it an "online" event. It's like driving all the way to Macy's just to do e-shopping.

— Olimpiu G. Urcan (@OlimpiuUrcan) November 27, 2015

Unlike some chess fans in the twittersphere, the organizers took the tournament very seriously. FIDE was represented by its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and its Vice President Georgios Makropoulos, and also present was the CEO of Premium Chess, the company FIDE works with to provide the infrastructure. 

The players played an 18-round, double round robin. At the end of the day, Indian grandmaster Harika Dronavalli emerged as the winner. She edged out GM Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) on tiebreak (Buchholz) after both had finished on 13.5 points. Third came GM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, who scored 12 points.

2015 FIDE World Online Women Blitz Championship | Final Standings

Became World Women Blitz Online Champion!! 💃💃😊 @Premium_Chess #Fidearena #worldchampion #Rome pic.twitter.com/tUVkM6wLb1

— Harika Dronavalli (@HarikaDronavali) November 27, 2015

Harika had not prepared much for the event. “Just for one day, and I studied my opponent's games a bit,” she told Chess.com. “But I often play blitz on Playchess, but with 3 minutes without the increment.”

She said she liked her games against Foisor as Black, and against Padmini as White. Here they are:

Harika agreed that it was a bit weird to travel to Rome, but not for playing blitz via laptops. “It was funny for me, to travel all the way from India to Europe for a tournament which lasted for only four hours.  But playing on laptops was fine because that's the whole new concept and point of this event.”