3 min learnApr 15, 2026 12:32 AM IST
India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu will head into the ultimate spherical of the Ladies’s Candidates event on Wednesday in joint lead with Kazakh grandmaster Bibisara Assaubayeva on a dramatic day in Cyprus. Each gamers have a rating of seven.5 factors heading into the ultimate spherical, to arrange an thrilling photograph end. Half some extent behind them is the Chinese language phenom Zhu Jiner.
Vaishali was held to a draw by the previous ladies’s world champion from China, Tan Zhongyi. When she walked out of the taking part in corridor on Tuesday, she would have felt like her likelihood to safe a shot at profitable the Ladies’s Candidates was kind of over since her competitor for the highest spot, Zhu Jiner, was in a profitable place towards Aleksandra Goryachkina.
However beneath strain of changing the sport, Zhu crumbled, thus handing the 24-year-old Vaishali one other lifeline to safe a battle within the Ladies’s World Chess Championship towards Ju Wenjun. The 22-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva additionally snuck into the joint lead after defeating Anna Muzychuk.
On Wednesday, Vaishali should win her sport towards Kateryna Lagno whereas hoping that her Chess Olympiad teammate Divya Deshmukh does her a favour and defeats Bibisara of their last encounter. In the meantime, Zhu may additionally win the occasion by victory in her last spherical, supplied each Vaishali and Bibisara lose their last video games tomorrow. Goryachkina, Lagno and Muzychuk are additionally one level behind Vaishali and Bibisara.
Whereas Divya is at present final within the standings, considered one of her two wins within the Candidates’ thus far has come towards Bibisara. Of the 5 defeats Divya has suffered, 4 have come within the final 5 rounds, which is an indicator of her type heading into the ultimate spherical. She misplaced to Lagno on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s outcomes imply that for the fifth spherical in a row, Vaishali has managed to remain within the lead. After spherical 8, an unprecedented 5 gamers had been in joint lead. By spherical 9, Vaishali was sharing the lead with Zhu. It was after Spherical 10 that Vaishali was the only lead of the event, however she misplaced to Zhu Jiner in Spherical 12 to return to sharing the lead.
In the meantime, within the open Candidates occasion, Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Fabiano Caruana to stay in seventh spot within the standings. Thus far, in 13 rounds, the Indian star has received only a single sport, towards Anish Giri in spherical 1.
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FIDE Ladies’s Candidates Standings after Spherical 13: 1-2 Assaubayeva, Vaishali – 7,5 factors, 3 Zhu Jiner – 7 factors, 4-6 Goryachkina, Lagno, Muzychuk – 6,5 factors, 7 Tan Zhongyi – 5,5 factors,8 Divya – 5 factors
FIDE Candidates standings after Spherical 13:
1 Sindarov – 9,5 factors,2 Giri – 7,5 factors, 3-4 Caruana, Wei Yi – 6,5 factors, 5-6 Bluebaum, Nakamura – 6 factors, 7 Praggnanandhaa – 5,5 factors, 8 Esipenko – 4,5 factors.
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