New Delhi, 16 April 2026: India’s 24-year-old Grand Master R. Vaishali has written a new history by winning brilliantly in the FIDE Women Candidates Chess Tournament played in Cyprus. With this victory, Vaishali has secured her place for the Women’s World Chess Championship to be held this year.

Vaishali has become the second female player from India to challenge for the world title. Earlier in 2011, veteran player Koneru Humpy had achieved this feat. Now Vaishali will face the current world champion Xu Wenjun of China for the world title.

An exciting situation was created in the final and decisive round of the tournament. India’s Divya Deshmukh had held strong competitor Bibisara Asaubayeva to a draw. This made the path of winning the title very easy for Vaishali. Vaishali showed her skills while playing with white marbles and won the title by defeating Russian-born Katerina Lagan.

It is noteworthy that R. Vaishali and her younger brother R. Praggnananda is the first brother-sister pair in the world who are both Grand Masters and both have participated in the Candidates Tournament.

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