PAPHOS, April 13: After squandering the chance to extend her lead, Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali will be under pressure when she takes on former women’s world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the penultimate round of the Candidates chess tournament here.
Vaishali, who was leading by a full point, suffered a setback in the 12th round, playing with white she lost to China’s Jiner Zhu, who has now drawn level at the top of the points table.
Vaishali will need to regroup after the final rest day of the tournament, which will determine the challenger to reigning world champion Wenjun Ju of China.
Apart from Zhongyi, Vaishali also faces a tricky challenge from Russia’s Kateryna Lagno, who may be out of title contention but remains a formidable opponent.
Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva is also in the hunt after a hard-fought win over Lagno, while Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk too remains in contention.
The two are trailing the leaders by half a point, setting up a potentially thrilling finish.
Vaishali and Zhu share the lead on seven points, with Assaubayeva and Muzychuk close behind on 6.5 points. The Russian duo of Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lagno are on 5.5, while India’s Divya Deshmukh and Tan are further back on five points.
It is clear that a lot can go right-or-wrong for all the four players in contention.
In the open section, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov is firmly in control with nine points and is just a draw away from securing a shot at the world title against India’s D Gukesh later this year.
Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri, who is on seven points, remains the only realistic challenger and is set to face Sindarov in a crucial clash in the next round.
If Anish wins he might still have a chance. However, as things have been unfolding here, there is a very remote chance of that happening.
Fabiano Caruana is third on six points, followed by American compatriot Hikaru Nakamura, Wei Yi and Matthias Bluebaum of Germany, while India’s R Praggnanandhaa is further down the standings on five points, a half point ahead of Andrey Esipenko of Russia. (PTI)
