The Tata Steel Chess India Blitz 2026 ended in dramatic fashion. On Sunday, January 11, Carissa Yip was declared the Women’s Blitz champion, while Vantika Agrawal finished as runner-up. Other strong contenders who finished strongly in the final round included Aleksandra Goryachkina and Vaishali Rameshbabu.
In the women’s title decider match, India’s Vantika and America’s Carissa clashed against one another in a dominant match. After winning her final four games, Vantika makes a comeback and forces Carissa towards the playoffs. Later in the tiebreaker, the pressure mounted on Vantika, who lost her first game. Meanwhile, Carissa made no mistakes and went on to draw the match in the second game. Her score, however, earned her the championship title in the women’s section, while Vantika’s pressurized game got her the runners-up spot.
On the other hand, Rameshbabu secured a win over Stavroula Tsolakidou, while Goryachkina had a remarkable game against her opponent, Nana Dzagnidze with four queens in the game.
Another notable win for America came from the men’s section after Wesley So won the Open event title in a decisive victory over Vidit Gujrathi, who failed in the final round. In the Open Section, India’s Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively, with both finishing on 11 points each. In the final rounds, Erigaisi defeated Anand, while Nihal secured his win.
Meanwhile, Wei Yi defeated Viswanathan Anand in a calm and composed match, while R Praggnanandhaa secured his win against Hans Niemann in the closing rounds.
Who is Carissa Yip?
A four-time U.S. women’s champion and American international master, Carissa was the highest-rated female chess player named in the U-18 world rankings, top-ranked female in the United States, and created history as the youngest to earn an International Master (IM) title. At 10 years of age, she became the youngest female player to defeat a chess Grandmaster.
Meanwhile, in 2019, she won the North American Junior Girls’ Championship title with 8.5 out of 9 points, followed by two back-to-back titles in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship. In the 2020 U.S. In The Women’s Chess Championship, Yip, with a score of 8/11 points, finished second behind GM Irina Krush.
Later in 2021, she won her first-ever U.S. Women’s Championship title by a 1.5-point margin and then went on to win her second consecutive title in 2023. The following year, she won her third championship title with a score of 8.5/11 points in the finals. Last year, in 2025, Yip bagged her second GM honor after winning the Cairns Cup. In October, she earned her fourth title in the U.S. Championship with an 8/11 score.
