Vaishali's Grand Swiss victory

R. Vaishali secured the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss title and a spot in the next year’s Candidate event by drawing her final round match against Batkhuyag Mungutuul of Mongolia. With 8.5 points, Vaishali claimed the gold medal and a prize of $25,000 for her victory. The next Women’s Candidate event will take place in Canada in the coming year.

On the second board, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine drew with veteran Grandmaster Pia Cramling of Sweden, which propelled Vaishali to an outright victory. Meanwhile, India’s Vidit Gujrathi had a chance to achieve a rare double by winning the open section and also qualifying for the Candidates event if he could convert a winning endgame against Alexandr Predke of Serbia.

Vaishali, based in Chennai and the sister of Praggnanandhaa, had her sights set on the title. She played a complex Ruy Lopez opening against Mungutuul, who is known for her fierce play. The game appeared to be in Vaishali’s favor, but Mungutuul managed to open up a file on the queen side, leading to a draw in just 34 moves.

Vaishali’s victory in the Grand Swiss makes her the first Indian to achieve this feat. She will face a challenging task in the Candidates event, along with India’s Koneru Humpy, who is on the path to becoming a Grandmaster. Humpy’s qualification will be determined in January 2024.

In the open section, Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi continued his impressive performance by defeating Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania in a one-sided affair in the penultimate round. Gujrathi employed the Sicilian defense and demonstrated his intent for a complex battle. He outplayed his opponent and secured a comfortable win.

In the women’s section, Tania Sachdev and D Harika both won their matches to reach 5.5 points, while Vantika Agrawal and Divya Deshmukh also had winning performances, achieving five points each. Young talent Praggnanandhaa, with 6 points, remained in contention for a spot in the prize list, along with P. Harikrishna, Aravindh Chithambaram, and S. L. Narayanan, all reaching 5.5 points after drawing their respective matches in the tenth round.

Re-reported from the article originally published in The Republic TV English