Vaishali wins the Women's Candidates Tournament

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FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 (14)

Vaishali wins the Women's Candidates Tournament

Mark Crowther - Wednesday 15th April 2026

Vaishali being congratulated by Lagno at the end of their game. Photo ©

Vaishali being congratulated by Lagno at the end of their game. Photo © | https://candidates2026.fide.com

Vaishali Rameshbabu took her opportunities in the final round of the Women's Candidates tournament to beat Kateryna Lagno and combined with Bibisara Assaubayeva's draw with Divya Deshmukh meant she took clear first place. Vaishali's win means she will play the champion since 2018, Ju Wenjun. Vaishali is the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa. Anna Muzychuk drew with Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Tan Zhongyi in the remaining games.

Javokhir Sindarov had already sewn up the Candidates in Round 13 and he engineered a very quick draw against Wei Yi to finish on +6 undefeated. Matthias Bluebaum came in a fighting mood against Anish Giri but it's not really his style and Giri impressively refuted his ideas. Fabiano Caruana also won his final game against Andrey Esipenko. Praggnanandhaa-Nakamura was a quiet draw.

Both events have been super, Sindarov seems to have taken huge strides and the rest of the year watching him should be very exciting. Anish Giri was probably the only other player to come out of the event with his reputation enhanced. The women's event was wild, fighting chess, I think many of the field will be regretting lost opportunities.

Final Standings: 1st Javokhir Sindarov, 10/14. 2nd Anish Giri, 8½. 3rd Fabiano Caruana, 7½. 4th Yi Wei, 7. 5th Hikaru Nakamura, 6½. 6th-7th Matthias Bluebaum and R Praggnanandhaa, 6. 8th Andrey Esipenko, 4½. 8 players.

Final Standings: 1st Rameshbabu Vaishali, 8½/14. 2nd Bibisara Assaubayeva, 8. 3rd Anna Muzychuk, 7. 4th-5th Jiner Zhu and Aleksandra Goryachkina, 7½. 6th Kateryna Lagno, 6½. 7th-8th Deshmukh Divya and Zhongyi Tan, 5½. 8 players.

Round 14 Summary

Andrey Esipenko 0—1 Fabiano Caruana

Caruana took advantage of some very loose play from a probably dispirited Andrey Esipenko.

Praggnanandhaa R ½—½ Hikaru Nakamura

Praggnanandhaa tried for a bit but Nakamura got an easy draw.

Matthias Bluebaum 0—1 Anish Giri

Bluebaum tried to get to 50% by really going for it but it's not his style and the aggressive 14.0-0-0 was just losing, Giri was super accurate.

Javokhir Sindarov ½—½ Wei Yi

Sindarov had done his job, his final task was to finish the event undefeated. With the co-operation of Wei Yi it took him 10 minutes.

FIDE Women’s Candidates

Anna Muzychuk ½—½ Zhu Jiner

Muzychuk had a small edged against Zhu Jiner but after 27.Qe5?! the game quickly became equal and was drawn.

Aleksandra Goryachkina — Tan Zhongyi

Tan Zhongyi is a former women's World Champion via the knockout format and the winner of the last Candidates tournament but just nothing has gone right for her here. Goryachkina outplayed her in a tricky knight endgame.

Vaishali Rameshbabu — Kateryna Lagno

Lagno had a very strange tournament but most of all her openings didn't seem good enough. 11...Be6? put her in trouble and although Vaishali let her back in the game a bit she was worse the entire game and after 30...Rfa8? there was no coming back.

Divya Deshmukh ½—½ Bibisara Assaubayeva

This was a pretty well played game. Bibisara's 25.Nxf2? was unsound but tricky to refute and the game finished in a draw. Bibisara likely knew it wasn't enough.

Round 14 Commentary

FIDE Candidates 2026 Pegeia CYP (CYP), 29 iii-16 iv 2026																			cat. XX (2749)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Sindarov, Javokhir	g	UZB	2745	*	*	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	10.0	2907
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2753	½	½	*	*	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	1	1	½	8.5	2828
3.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2795	0	½	½	0	*	*	1	½	1	0	1	½	½	½	½	1	7.5	2771
4.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2754	0	½	½	½	0	½	*	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	7.0	2748
5.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2810	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	*	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	6.5	2711
6.	Bluebaum, Matthias	g	GER	2698	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	½	½	½	6.0	2706
7.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2741	0	0	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	½	6.0	2700
8.	Esipenko, Andrey	g	RUS	2698	0	½	0	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	4.5	2623

Round 14 (April 15, 2026)
Sindarov, Javokhir	- Wei, Yi	½-½	32	C48	Four Knights Rubinstein
Bluebaum, Matthias	- Giri, Anish	0-1	28	D38	QGD Ragozin
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	33	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Esipenko, Andrey	- Caruana, Fabiano	0-1	40	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation

FIDE Women Candidates Pegeia CYP (CYP), 29 iii-16 iv 2026																			cat. XI (2520)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	g	IND	2470	*	*	½	½	0	0	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	½	8½	2607
2.	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	g	KAZ	2516	½	½	*	*	1	1	½	½	½	1	0	1	0	½	½	½	8	2570
3.	Zhu, Jiner	g	CHN	2578	1	1	0	0	*	*	½	0	0	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	7½	2540
4.	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	g	FID	2534	½	0	½	½	½	1	*	*	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	1	7½	2547
5.	Muzychuk, Anna	g	UKR	2522	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	*	*	1	½	½	0	½	½	7	2519
6.	Lagno, Kateryna	g	RUS	2508	0	0	1	0	½	0	½	1	0	½	*	*	½	1	1	½	6½	2492
7.	Divya, Deshmukh	g	IND	2497	½	0	1	½	0	½	½	0	½	1	½	0	*	*	½	0	5½	2443
8.	Tan, Zhongyi	g	CHN	2535	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	1	*	*	5½	2437

Round 14 (April 15, 2026)
Vaishali, Rameshbabu	- Lagno, Kateryna	1-0	48	B76	Sicilian Modern Dragon
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Tan, Zhongyi	1-0	63	C42	Petroff's Defence
Muzychuk, Anna	- Zhu, Jiner	½-½	56	B22	Sicilian Alapin
Divya, Deshmukh	- Assaubayeva, Bibisara	½-½	36	A45	Trompowsky

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