Wednesday Workout: Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz

The Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz took place in Kolkata, India, from August 31 through September 9 as a series of four separate events: women's rapid, women's blitz, open rapid, and, finally, open blitz. 

WGM Divya Deshmukh won the women's rapid event despite having the lowest FIDE rating of any participant and despite playing alongside India's strongest GMs Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli, and, despite world champion GM Ju Wenjun's participation. Not to be outdone, Ju came back to win the blitz event. GM Irina Krush was the lone American, and her tied-for-eighth finish in each event was unfortunate considering several of the opportunities she had.

GM Maxime Vachier–Lagrave took a commanding clear first in the open rapid, with GM Alexander Grischuk taking clear first in the blitz. 

This week's puzzles all come from these events, and it was difficult to narrow it down to just six positions!

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Download our printable worksheet or solve along with our interactive study.