Harika Dronavalli finishes fifth in World Chess Blitz Championships

Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli blitzed her way to a top-five finish in the 2016 FIDE Women World Blitz Championships in Qatar. After finishing in a decent position in the Women World Rapid Championships, Harika took her game a notch higher and displayed a brilliant performance over the two days of the Blitz event to finish in the fifth position on the leaderboard.

Harika, seeded 10th in the tournament, started the tournament in a blistering form and won seven games, while drawing two and losing three to rise to the fourth position after the end of day one's play. She started the second day with a draw against International Master Inna Gaponenko of Ukraine. In her second game of the day, she lost to International Master Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany.

She then played out two draws against Nana Dzagnidge of Georgia and Woman Grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, before winning the last game of the day against International Grandmaster Nino Batsiashvili to end her campaign on a good note.