FIDE Grand Swiss: Vaishali qualifies for Candidates tournament

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali made it to the women's Candidates tournament after a hard-fought draw against former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the 11th and final round of the FIDE Grand Swiss here on Monday.

Russian Kateryna Lagno played out a draw fairly quickly with Ulviyya Fataliyeva of Azerbaijan to seal her spot at the top of the tables and became the other qualifier for the Candidates, apart from Vaishali, after securing eight points out of a possible 11.

None of the other Indians in the fray could make it to the Candidates, that is reserved for eight players in all and two from here. Anish Giri was the winner in the open section as he crushed Hans Moke Niemann of United States.

Anish finished the tournament on eight points out of a possible 11 too and most likely Matthias Bluebaum is going to finish second and make it to the Candidates. As things stand right now, Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum (from this tournament), Hikaru Nakamura of United States (on rating), R Praggnanadhaa (on his tournament circuit performance) and Fabiano Caruana of United States will make it to the Candidates. The last three spots will be filled in from the World Chess Cup to be held in Goa next month. The winner of the Candidates will challenge reigning world champion D Gukesh.

While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.

Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy have already qualified after finishing first and second respectively in the last women's World Cup. With Vaishali now joining them, it's already three Indian women in the fray to try and win the Candidates that will give them a shot at the world women's chess title.

"There are eight spots and there are more than eight great players. No matter the system you choose, it's going to be hard, because you are to squeeze in eight players out of 20," said Anish Giri, the worthy winner who was consistent throughout the long tournament here.

Important and Indians results final round (Indians unless specified): Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 7.5) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 7.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 8) beat Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 7); Arjun Erigaisi (7) Vincent Keymer (Ger, 7); Abdusattorov Nodirbek (Uzb, 7) Awonder Liang (Usa, 7); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 7) drew with Nihal Sarin (7); Andy Woodward (Usa, 7) drew with Yu Yangyi (Chn, 7); Vidit Gujrathi (7) drew with Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa, 7); Theodorou Nikolas (Gre, 6) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (6); Maxim Rodshtein (Isr, 5.5) lost to P Harikrishna (6.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 5.5) Aditya Mittal (5.5); Raunak Sadhwani (6) drew with Aram Hakobyan (Arm, 6); V Pranav (6.5) beat Lu Shanglei (Chn, 5.5); S L Narayanan (6) drew with Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 6); Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 5) lost to D Gukesh (6); Leon Luke Mendonca (5) Alexander Grischuk (Fid, 5); Ihor Samunenkov (6) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (5); Alexander Donchenko (Ger, 4.5) Murali Karthikeyan (4.5); Aryan Chopra (5.5) beat Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Den, 4.5); Divya Deshmukh (4.5) Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 4.5).

Women: Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 7.5) drew with R Vaishali (8); Kateryna Lagno (8) drew with Ulviyya Fataliyeva (Aze, 7); Irina Krush (Usa, 7) drew with Yuxin Song (Chn, 7.5); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 7.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (6.5); Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr, 7) beat Elina Danielian (Arm, 6); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui, 6.5) drew with Guo Qi (Chn, 6.5); Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre, 6.5) beat Polina Shuvalova (Fid, 5.5); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 5.5) lost to Mai Narva (Est, 6.5); Irina Bulmaga (5) drew with Vantika Agrawal (5); Carissa Yip (Usa, 6) lost to D Harika (6.5).

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