Vaishali Rambabu had an excellent outing in round 7 as she pulled back the lead to the top to 0.5 points. Meanwhile, Divya Deshmukh and R Praggnanandhaa had draws of contrasting nature as the 2026 FIDE Candidates goes into a rest day at the halfway stage of the tournament.
Vaishali is 0.5 off the top of the Women’s section, while Divya remains 1 off it. In the Open section, Praggnanandhaa is 2.5 off the leader.
Vaishali finds form at the right time
Vaishali (playing with white) beat Tan Zhongyi with 2:49 left on the clock as she closed the gap with leader Anna Muzychuk to 0.5 points. Muzychuk (playing with white) was forced into a draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva after 26 moves via repetition.
Vaishali went with the Pirc Defence opening but Tan dominated the early exchanges and appeared to be in a winning position before a blunder got them both to level heading. However, a big blunder late — one so bad that Tan reacted by simply stopping and staring at the board wondering what she had done — gave Vaishali the edge and she read both the board and opponent’s reaction perfectly to seize on it. The win puts her in prime position to reel in Muzychuk as we move into the second half of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Zhu Jiner played out a draw with Aleksandra Goryachkina and is now 0.5 behind Vaishali. The other Indian in the Women’s event, Divya Deshmukh drew with Kateryna Lagno after a mammoth 135 move game that saw the Indian blunder at various stages — she was in a winning position from move 21 to around move 70 but the blunders that kept landing meant she ceded the advantage and the chance to join Vaishali on four points.
FIDE Candidates 2026 Women’s Round 6 results
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 6
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Anna Muzychuk – 4.5
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R Vaishali – 4
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Zhu Jiner – 3.5
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Aleksandra Goryachkina – 3.5
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Kateryna Lagno – 3.5
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Divya Deshmukh – 3.5
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Bibisara Assaubayeva – 3
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Tan Zhongyi – 2.5
Pragg holds Caruana as Sindarov maintains lead
In the Open section, Vaishali’s brother and the lone Indian representative, R Praggnanandhaa squeezed a draw against lead-chasing pre-tournament favourite Fabiano Caruana. Praggnanandhaa initiated a rook exchange on the 30th move, and soon the two decided to shake hands after a series of repeated moves.
Meanwhile, runaway leader Javokhir Sindarov made a couple of blunders as he lost on a minor winning position as Anish Giri used all his experience to force a draw. Caruana’s draw, though, keeps Sindarov’s 1.5-point lead intact. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, remains third, two points behind the Uzbek GM.
Sindarov has been dominant all tournament, winning five games – a number that’s usually enough to win the Candidates tournament. What’s more impressive is that three of those wins have come with black.
On the other boards, Hikaru Nakamura went to second-from-bottom of the table after a draw with Matthias Blübaum while the only win of the day came via Wei Yi beating Andrey Espienko.
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Round 6 results
FIDE Candidates 2026 Open Standings after Round 6
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Javokhir Sindarov – 6
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Fabiano Caruana – 4.5
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Anish Giri – 3.5
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R Praggnanandhaa – 3.5
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Wei Yi – 3
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Matthias Blübaum- 3
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Hikaru Nakamura – 2.5
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Andrey Esipenko – 2
