After 15 years, there will be an Indian competing for the Women’s World Chess Championship crown, as R Vaishali today became the challenger to world champion Ju Wenjun by winning the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates.
It was a superb performance almost all throughout the tournament, which ended with a comprehensive win against Kateryna Lagno in the final round, while Divya Deshmukh did what she had to by avoiding a loss to Bibisara Assaubayeva, who was level on points with Vaishali at the start of the final round.
At the end of the day, it was sensational from Vaishali, who was the second-lowest of the eight players who entered the Candidates tournament.
Here’s how she did it.
Solid, unspectacular start
You can’t win Candidates tournaments in the opening few rounds, but you certainly can put yourself out of winning contention in those opening few rounds. Vaishali got into the tournament with four draws in her first four games, against Assaubayeva, Divya, Anna Muzychuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina. That ensured she didn’t fall too far behind the leaders at the start of the competition.
Setback against Zhu
Just like in Toronto in 2024, though, a creditable 2/4 start became a concerning 2/5 in the next round, as Vaishali lost to Zhu Jiner, with the black pieces. That meant that Vaishali went a full point behind the joint-leaders Zhu, Muzychuk, and Lagno at that stage.
Vaishali got completely constricted by Zhu in that game, and eventually after a long slog, was made to resign. For a player who has sometimes been prone to losing a few games in a row after one loss, this was a decisive moment for Vaishali. If she didn’t arrest the slide rightaway, there would be no chance of getting anywhere near the top.
Roaring back into contention through the middle
Instead of sliding after a single loss, Vaishali went into overdrive after that loss to Zhu. Between rounds 6 and 11, she took four wins and two draws. It was a run that gave her a one-point lead at the top of the Candidates.
Following that loss to Zhu in Round 5, Vaishali won two in a row against Lagno and Tan Zhongyi. Then, she drew against Assaubayeva, beat Divya, drew with Muzychuk and beat Goryachkina.
She was lucky in some of those games, particularly in the seventh round against Tan Zhongyi, where a single blunder from Tan gifted a win to Vaishali. It was a blunder that Tania Sachdev, on commentary, called one of the worst blunders in Candidates history.
No such tournament was ever won without some luck along the way, though.
Loss to Zhu threatens hopes again
The superb streak began after a loss to Zhu, it ended with a loss to Zhu. This loss, in Round 12, could once again have derailed Vaishali’s tournament. Much like that first game against Zhu which she lost, Vaishali didn’t really have a chance to push for any better result in this game either.
Losing at such a critical stage was bad enough, losing comprehensively was worse, watching a one-point sole lead become a joint-lead with Zhu was perhaps the worst outcome of the day.
A solid recovery against Tan
Just like after that first loss against Zhu, Vaishali ensured that she did enough to halt a potential slide. She did enough to escape with a draw, and put herself in a superb position for the final round. She ensured that she would have the white pieces for that final round, while having her fate in her own hands.
The line is crossed, with a Divya favour
The opening was a dream in that final game, Viswanathan Anand said. The middle-game was a continuation of that dream. The endgame was the achievement of a life-long dream. Vaishali comprehensively destroyed Lagno in that game and the win put her on 8.5 points.
It was a tally that only Assaubayeva could achieve at the start of the round. But her dream was put on hold for at least another two years, as Divya Deshmukh played some clutch defensive chess for a few moves after dominating the opening and middle-game too.
A few months before the Olympiad later this year, it was a superb tag-team between two of India’s top women’s players.
Vaishali would go on to say in the immediate aftermath that she doesn’t have the words yet to express her feelings on what she has achieved. And, who would blame her for not having the words? She has undergone an absolute roller-coaster in the last three weeks. It has been gruelling, it has been difficult, but in the end, it was all worth it.
