Things are starting to fall into place neatly once again for Vaishali Rameshbabu, who has surged into the joint lead in the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss tournament along with Kateryna Lagno after six rounds in Samarkand. Vaishali and Lagno are the only two unbeaten players in the women’s field at the event with five rounds left. On Tuesday, after being held to two draws in the previous rounds, Vaishali defeated Ulviyya Fataliyeva, an IM from Azerbaijan, to head into the only rest day of the tournament perched on the top of the 56-player standings.
It was a day that saw world champion Gukesh Dommaraju lose his second game in a row at the tournament, this time being handed a loss by a 24-year-old Greek GM, Nikolas Theodorou. Most of India’s top stars ended with draws on Tuesday, including Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, Pentala Harikrishna, Raunak Sadhwani, Aditya Mittal, SL Narayanan, Aryan Chopra, and Murali Kartikeyan. The other defending champion at the event, Vidit Gujrathi, meanwhile secured victory as did Leon Luke Mendonca.
The FIDE Grand Swiss is the strongest Swiss tournament on the FIDE circuit, with 116 players competing in the Open section and 56 players in the Women’s tournament. The 11-round Swiss format fosters unpredictability, which is why, in its short history, the Grand Swiss has seen many surprises. In 2019, when the event was first introduced as an open event (a separate women’s event running parallelly was added in 2021), China’s Wang Hao emerged as the winner, despite being a complete underdog at the event. There were other surprises too, like 23-year-old Kirill Alekseenko ending third. The tournament has continued to deliver shocks with a young, unheralded Alireza Firouzja winning the 2021 event (and then, having become an established star in two years, ending in the middle of the table in 2023 standings). But perhaps the biggest surprise of the event had come in 2023, when two Indians — Vidit and Vaishali — had swept the titles on offer and secured Candidates spots as well.
The FIDE Grand Swiss is a treacherously complicated event to win. Perhaps that’s why FIDE has kept two golden tickets to the Candidates at the event for the two top finishers rather than just for the winner of the event.
As reigning world champion Gukesh had explained in the pre-tournament press conference: “In Swiss tournaments, you need to win more games and take a bit more chances. There will be a lot of hungry players.”
Vaishali, who finds herself in pole position to win it for a second time, said she had come to Samarkand not just to qualify for the Candidates but to do so by winning it, rather than securing the second spot on offer to the player who ended second. She’s not had the best of years, having lost 24 rating points since January.
Vaishali Rameshbabu with her mother Nagalakshmi and Kateryna Lagno after Vaishali’s win in round 6 of the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss in Samarkand. (PHOTO: Michal Walusza / FIDE)
“I’m happy with the way I am playing so far in the tournament. Sure I won the previous Grand Swiss, but it feels like so long ago! Lots of things have happened in between. I’ve lost a lot of rating points this year…,” she chuckled in an interview with FIDE before adding: “But I’ve learnt a lot and I am using that experience.”
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On Tuesday, Vaishali defeated Fataliyeva in 41 moves with black pieces after holding a healthy edge from move 22 as she pushed her h pawn towards her opponent’s castled king. By the end, when the Azerbaijan IM resigned, Vaishali’s pawns were marching down the battlefield with gusto, protected by the king.
INTERACTIVE: How Vaishali beat Ulviyya Fataliyeva
Vaishali has had some eye-catching wins in Samarkand as well, like the 22-move defeat of Dutch IM Eline Roebers.
While Vaishali has only played one other grandmaster in her six rounds—Lagno, who she held to a draw—Vaishali topping the field at Samarkand is remarkable when compared to the campaigns of the other favourites. Take former World Champion and top seed Tan Zhongyi for example. Having reached the semis at the FIDE Women’s World Cup just a couple of months ago, Tan is currently languishing in 15th spot in the standings. The other pre-event favourites have fared even worse: former women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk is 16th while Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk is 30th.
