Candidates 2026: R Vaishali Beats Compatriot Divya Deshmukh To Grab Women's Joint Lead

R Vaishali kept Indian hopes alive by defeating compatriot Divya Deshmukh in the ninth round of the women’s Candidates Chess Tournament here on Wednesday.

After what could best be described as a sedate start, Vaishali has been pushing hard for a win in every game, and this victory keeps her in the lead alongside Jiner Zhu of China on 5.5 points out of a possible 8.

With five more rounds to go in the women’s competition, early leader Anna Muzychuk is in close pursuit of the two leaders, just half a point behind, while Divya, Kateryna Lagno of Ukraine and Bibisara Assaubayeva are not far adrift.

The one player out of contention is former women’s world champion Zhongyi Tan, who is still looking for the winning touch.

Javokhir Sindarov Still Leads

In the open section, Anish Giri

almost ended the hopes of pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana of the United States, scoring a brilliant win yet again.

Leader Javokhir Sindarov continued a catch-me-if-you-can approach with the followers as he took another hard-fought draw, this time against Matthias Bluebaum of Germany.

As things stand in the open section, Sindarov has 7 points from 9 games and is followed only by Giri of Holland, who has reinvented himself to reach 5.5 points.

It remains to be seen if Giri can catch up with Sindarov, but the Uzbek has three white games out of the remaining five.

R Praggnanandhaa tried to prove a point against Wei Yi of China, but the Indian clearly spoiled a much better position in the middlegame. The game eventually ended in a draw as the Indian chess GM is tied 4th.

Candidates 2026 – Results Round 9

Open: R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 4) drew with Wei Yi (CHN, 3.5); Anish Giri (NED, (5.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4,5) Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 7) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 4); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 4) drew with Andrey Esipenko (RUS, 3).

Women: R Vaishali (IND, 5.5) beat Divya Deshmukh (IND, 4.5); Jiner Zhu (CHN, 5.5) beat Kateryna Lagno (RUS, 4.5)); Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS, 4) drew with Bibisara Assuabayeva (KAZ, 4); Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 5) drew with Zhongyi Tan (CHN, 3).

(With inputs from Agencies)