3 min readApr 15, 2026 12:32 AM IST
India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu will head into the final round of the Women’s Candidates tournament on Wednesday in joint lead with Kazakh grandmaster Bibisara Assaubayeva on a dramatic day in Cyprus. Both players have a score of 7.5 points heading into the final round, to set up an exciting photo finish. Half a point behind them is the Chinese phenom Zhu Jiner.
Vaishali was held to a draw by the former women’s world champion from China, Tan Zhongyi. When she walked out of the playing hall on Tuesday, she would have felt like her chance to secure a shot at winning the Women’s Candidates was more or less over since her competitor for the top spot, Zhu Jiner, was in a winning position against Aleksandra Goryachkina.
But under pressure of converting the game, Zhu crumbled, thus handing the 24-year-old Vaishali another lifeline to secure a battle in the Women’s World Chess Championship against Ju Wenjun. The 22-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva also snuck into the joint lead after defeating Anna Muzychuk.
On Wednesday, Vaishali will have to win her game against Kateryna Lagno while hoping that her Chess Olympiad teammate Divya Deshmukh does her a favour and defeats Bibisara in their final encounter. Meanwhile, Zhu could also win the event by victory in her final round, provided both Vaishali and Bibisara lose their final games tomorrow. Goryachkina, Lagno and Muzychuk are also one point behind Vaishali and Bibisara.
While Divya is currently last in the standings, one of her two wins in the Candidates’ so far has come against Bibisara. Of the five defeats Divya has suffered, four have come in the last five rounds, which is an indicator of her form heading into the final round. She lost to Lagno on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s results mean that for the fifth round in a row, Vaishali has managed to stay in the lead. After round 8, an unprecedented five players were in joint lead. By round 9, Vaishali was sharing the lead with Zhu. It was after Round 10 that Vaishali was the sole lead of the tournament, but she lost to Zhu Jiner in Round 12 to go back to sharing the lead.
Meanwhile, in the open Candidates event, Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Fabiano Caruana to remain in seventh spot in the standings. So far, in 13 rounds, the Indian star has won just a single game, against Anish Giri in round 1.
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FIDE Women’s Candidates Standings after Round 13: 1-2 Assaubayeva, Vaishali – 7,5 points, 3 Zhu Jiner – 7 points, 4-6 Goryachkina, Lagno, Muzychuk – 6,5 points, 7 Tan Zhongyi – 5,5 points,8 Divya – 5 points
FIDE Candidates standings after Round 13:
1 Sindarov – 9,5 points,2 Giri – 7,5 points, 3-4 Caruana, Wei Yi – 6,5 points, 5-6 Bluebaum, Nakamura – 6 points, 7 Praggnanandhaa – 5,5 points, 8 Esipenko – 4,5 points.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
