With each passing sunset on the mesmerising Mediterranean shores of Paphos in Cyprus, India’s R Vaishali continues her strong display of chess, quietly tightening her grip on a tournament where fortunes can turn on a single move. With each passing round, the possibility of an Indian returning home with atleast one World Championship challenger spot from the twin 2026 Candidates tournaments is only increasing.
On Saturday evening, Vaishali, who entered the 11th round as the sole leader of the Women’s Candidates, increased her gap over second-placed Zhu Jiner to a full point after handing a soul-crushing, tournament-derailing loss to pre-event favourite Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina.
With her fourth win of the Candidates and her second with the black pieces, Vaishali is somewhat mirroring her great run from the second half of the previous Women’s Candidates in Toronto, where she won five games in a row to overcome a poor start and eventually tie for second place on points. This time, however, the late surge has come early, and the question lingering in the shadows is whether anyone could stop her.
R Vaishali in action at the Candidates on Saturday. (FIDE/Niki Riga)
She is well on course to better her standing in her second Candidates appearance and is just three rounds away from what could be a historic achievement: becoming only the second Indian woman, after Koneru Humpy, to fight for the World Championship.
In the London System against the Russian, she kept the position fluid and was quite resourceful with her pieces. Her biggest pause before a move came on the 12th move, when she shifted her knight, allowing a queen trade, an important decision that set the course of the game. On the 30th move, in an attempt to exchange the light-squared bishop, Goryachkina trapped her own rook dead in the centre, and from there, there was no coming back for her.
Vaishali was far from being a favourite ahead of the tournament. Even among Indians, with Humpy originally set to feature in the event, Vaishali wasn’t a favourite of the lot, but that is exactly when she thrives.
Coming to Vaishali’s aid was her compatriot Divya Deshmukh, who held Zhu to a draw with the black pieces. However, this result has ensured that the title is a long shot for the Nagpur GM.
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Divya held a tiny edge in a lively rook‑and‑knight endgame, but with no clear plan or path forward, she chose to accept a draw. The title is now a long shot for the Nagpur Grandmaster.
Sunday promises an epic showdown, with Vaishali facing off against her chaser, Zhu. If Vaishali handles the pressure well, there will be little standing in the way of India’s third female Grandmaster.
For the lone Indian in the open event and Vaishali’s younger brother, R Praggnanandhaa, every round seems to bring fresh pain. Just a day after a crushing loss to Uzbek wunderkind Javokhir Sindarov, the 20-year-old had Germany’s Matthias Blübaum on the ropes with a clear winning advantage. But then, at the worst possible moment, he let it slip, which allowed Blübaum to force a draw.
A shared spoils means Praggnanandhaa is now officially out of the running for the Candidates title. The young Indian grandmaster had kept slim hopes alive until the middle rounds, but the final mathematical door shut on him with the lifeless ending he had against Blübaum.
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For Sindarov, the wait is now ceremonial. Five players – Andrey Esipenko, Hikaru Nakamura, Wei Yi, Blübaum and Praggnanandhaa – can no longer catch him, and the coronation of Uzbek is only a matter of time, with just one last hurdle left.
A shared spoils means Praggnanandhaa is now officially out of the running for the Candidates title. (FIDE/Niki Riga)
Fabiano Caruana, who once again couldn’t breach Sindarov’s defensive shield on Saturday, still has a theoretical route where winning his last three games and then hoping Sindarov loses all of his games will tie the scores at 8.5. But for the most experienced player in the field, calling that a title race would still be generous. For the American, a realistic shot at the World Championship is out of reach, and even catching the youngest player in the field would not feel like chasing a train that left the station.
That leaves Anish Giri as the only plausible, if unlikely, challenger. The Dutchman still has his second game against Sindarov coming up. He also faces out of color Wei Yi and a winless Bluebaum. While Giri has the craft to trouble anyone on his day, he will still need everything to align his way.
Giri’s clearest path is to beat Sindarov head-to-head, and then hope the other results also fall his way. A draw won’t be enough, a loss ends it immediately, and anything less than a win in that matchup and the trophy is Uzbekistan’s.
