Vaishali wins Candidates, to challenge Ju Wenjun for world title

PAPHOS: Grandmaster R Vaishali regained her composure at a crucial juncture and staged a fine comeback to outplay Kateryna Lagno in the final round, sealing victory to be crowned the outright champion of the Women's Candidates Tournament, which concluded here on Wednesday.

R Vaishali, long seen in the shadow of her younger sibling R Praggnanandhaa, has now carved her own path to the biggest stage in women’s chess, earning the right to take on China’s Ju Wenjun in the World Championship match later this year.

In doing so, Vaishali, who secured a total of 8.5 points, followed in the footsteps of Koneru Humpy, a feat that underscores the steady rise of women’s chess in the country.

In the Open section, Javokhir Sindarov played out a draw with China’s Wei Yi to seal his place as the challenger to reigning world champion D Gukesh.

India’s Praggnanandhaa signed off with a draw against American star Hikaru Nakamura.

Anish Giri finished a clear second, 1.5 points behind Sindarov, after defeating Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum, while Fabiano Caruana also notched up a win against Andrey Esipenko.

Results: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 6) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA 6.5); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 4.5) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 7); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 5.5) lost to Anish Giri Ned, 8); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 9.5) drew with Wei Yi (Chn, 6).

Women: R Vaishali (Ind, 8.5) beat Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 6.5); Bibisara Assuabayeva (Kaz, 8) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 6); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 6.5) playing Zhu Jiner (Chn, 7); Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 5.5) playing Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 6.5).