Queen’s Strategy: Vaishali wins the candidate competition and will compete for the world championship

This time the top chess board will be represented by twins India. R Vaishali, the lowest seed at the Women’s Candidates Championship in Cyprus, on Wednesday won the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun for the world title later this year. The 24-year-old survived a tense moment with Pragnan Nanda, the other half of the famous Chennai GM siblings, to beat Russia’s Katrina Ranio and win the title. After 14 rounds, she scored 8.5 points and qualified for the Women’s World Championships.The Indian GM will contest both the men’s and women’s world championships as 20-year-old Uzbek prodigy Sindarov swept the Cyprus Open to challenge men’s world champion D Gukesh. “It means a lot to me… super happy. There are no words to describe it,” Vaishali told Chess24 webcast.Vaishali is the second Indian woman to qualify for the championships. Koneru Humpy entered the World Championship in 2011 after withdrawing from the 2026 Candidates competition due to the West Asian conflict. In 2010, Vishy Anand defeated Veselin Topalov to retain the world title and secure another fight in 2012. A year later, Koneru Humpy won the right to challenge China’s Hou Yifan for the 2011 Match Play Championship. A nod to Divya Deshmukh. The path to the title race became easier when Divya tied with overnight joint leader Bibisara Assaubayeva (8 points). This means that a win for Vasiali would make her the clear winner, without the need for a tiebreaker.Divya defeated compatriot K Humpy in the World Cup knockout final. Despite trailing for 40 minutes against Bibisara and having lost four of their previous five games, she allowed the Kazakhs to drop half a point. She also achieved this result by avoiding the wooden spoon position. Legendary female player Judit Polgar was full of praise for Vasari’s fighting ability and incredible feat of winning the title despite being the lowest seed. But she issued a warning, saying: “Vashali has had to work incredibly hard to improve different parts of her game. She can’t make as many mistakes as she did here because they won’t be forgiven (in the championship game against Ju Wenjun). If she can iron out her own inaccuracies, it could be a balanced game. “On Wednesday, Ragnow chose Sicilian Dragon against Vaishali, a variation used by Garry Kasparov when he defeated Anand in the 1995 World Championship. Vasari has only played three official matches in her life with the Dragon of Sicily, winning twice in Wijk aan Zee last year but losing with a white piece. But she changed course and built a long castle instead of a short one. The dragon that pierced the Indian heart in 1995 was not good enough this time.Vaishali endured a tough test in the Open Challenge portion of the GM event in Chennai last August, losing eight out of 10 games and finishing at the bottom. Opting out of an event would have been a simple and easy-to-understand choice. But she presses on, avoiding the wrath of the chess goddess Kesha.Her second stint at the Cyprus event is unclear, although Vasari revealed she was working with a female psychologist. She worked with Sandipan Chanda to shoot the last batch of candidates. Vaishali was mentored by her childhood coach RB Ramesh and the West Bridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA). She hails from Velammal Vidyalaya, a school considered to be the chess factory of Chennai.Vaishali’s hopes were high once Lagno considered 32 minutes of Bishop action (11…Be6). Although she didn’t avoid many possible traps in the best possible way, on one occasion she pushed the pawn to keep the queen in control. After 48 transfers, he resigned. How Vasily finished (8.5 points in 14 rounds) seven draws, two losses, five winsRd 1 tied with Bibisara; Rd 2 drew with Divya; Rd 3 with Anna Drew; Rd 4 with Aleksandra Drew; 5 lost to Zhu; 6 defeated Lagno; Rd 7 defeated Tan; Rd 8 with Bibisara Drew; Rd 9 defeated Divya; Rd 10 Drew and Anna; Rd 11 defeated Aleksandra; Lost to Zhu on the 12th road; Drew and Tan on the 13th road; defeated Lanio on the 14th road Vasheri’s road to world championship vs. Ju Wenjun

Vaishali Candidate Result