2 min readBudapestUpdated: Nov 11, 2026 11:54 PM ISTVaishali lost to Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who held a rating advantage of 255 rating points over the Indian. (Total Chess/ Michal Walusza)The first day of the Total Chess pilot event began with wild time scrambles in the first round, played in a fast classical format that has rarely been used in tournaments. India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu was among those who lost after falling into dire time trouble.Vaishali lost to Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who held a rating advantage of 255 points over the Indian, who is preparing for her first assault on the Women’s World Chess Championship title in a few months’ time. The other two Indians in the 24-player field held on for draws: R Praggnanandhaa against German grandmaster Vincent Keymer, and Arjun Erigaisi against Hans Niemann. The players will play one more game on Wednesday against the same opponent, with colours reversed.Vaishali’s defeat came from a one-move blunder on the 34th move, when she played king to e3 instead of the engine-suggested pawn to b4. She had been in severe trouble on the clock for the previous 10 moves. By the 23rd move her time was down to under a minute, while the Frenchman had almost nine minutes. In a format where time slips away as easily as sand from a closed fist, the deficit was unassailable.ALSO READ | FIDE President Timur Turlov’s priority list for chess: a two-year calendar and more online tournamentsBarely any of the players have played fast classical (where each starts with 45 minutes on the clock, instead of 90 or 120), barring Ian Nepomniachtchi. But Nepo’s only appearance at a fast classical tournament came in 2017, at the Korchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge.To counter the format’s demands, some players tried to blitz out their opening moves to have more time in the middlegame.“We were both trying to play fast from the start and some others took their time in the opening. Players like Pragg were in time trouble by move 10 or 12. We were keeping the pace,” Fabiano Caruana told the official broadcast after beating Hungary’s Richard Rapport in the first game of the day.Story continues below this adThe clocks are set for another 45 minutes each in the second game, later on Wednesday.(The writer is in Budapest at the invitation of Norway Chess)© The Indian Express Pvt LtdAmit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. He primarily writes on... Read More Tags:R VaishaliAdvertisementLoading Recommendations...AdvertisementAdvertisement