Latest News, Updates & Breaking Headlines
Vaishali with Women’s Grand Swiss Trophy on the left and with Women’s Candidates title on the right (Photo by Michal Walusza/FIDE) NEW DELHI: The photos and videos are making rounds on social media. Seeing Vaishali hold the Women’s Candidates title and imagining that soon she will sit in front of the five-time World Champion Ju…
Vaishali Rameshbabu and Dommaraju Gukesh (FIDE Photo) NEW DELHI: On Thursday, the whole nation woke up to a historic realisation. Two of India’s young chess prodigies, 19-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh and 24-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu, will compete in their respective World Chess Championship matches. This means that for the first time, India has a simultaneous shot at…
Vaishali Rameshbabu (Photo: FIDE) There will be twin Indian representation at the highest boards of chess this time. On Wednesday, R Vaishali, lowest-ranked seed in the women’s Candidates tournament in Cyprus, earned the right to challenge China’s Ju Wenjun for the world title later this year. The 24-year-old, with Praggnanandhaa, the other half of Chennai’s…
Vaishali Rameshbabu vs Kateryna Lagno (Photo by Niki Riga) NEW DELHI: There is a proverb. In English, it goes like, “Fortune favours the brave”. Let’s start with the “fortune” part. For 24-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu, winning her game on Wednesday was not enough to make her a champion. Sharing the same 7.5/14 points as her was…
Vaishali vs Zhu Jiner (Photo by Niki Riga/FIDE) NEW DELHI: R Vaishali not only created history by winning the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament with 8.5/14 points but also walked away with a significant financial reward for her impressive performance. By finishing first, Vaishali is guaranteed a winner’s prize of €28,000, marking one of the biggest…
R Vaishali (Photo by Michal Walusza) NEW DELHI: History was created on the Mediterranean shores as Vaishali Rameshbabu clinched the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament on Wednesday, earning the right to challenge China’s reigning champion Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Chess Championship crown later this year.Going into the final round, Vaishali’s fate wasn’t entirely in…
R-L India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu, Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, and China’s Zhu Jiner (Photos by Michal Walusza) NEW DELHI: The hour of judgement has arrived. Unless a tie-breaker is forced and we have to wait for another day, it will be decided on Wednesday on the Mediterranean shores of Cyprus who will take the Women’s Candidates crown…
Rameshbabu Vaishali (File Photo/Getty Images) Joint-leader R Vaishali (7 points) needs to beat last edition’s winner Tan Zhongyi in the 13th and penultimate round on Tuesday, with black pieces, to give herself a good shot at the women’s candidates chess title in Cyprus after Monday’s rest day. However, that will be easier said than done.Of…
R Vaishali (Photo by Niki Riga) NEW DELHI: A round-robin format like the Candidates was always going to have a fair share of surprises for every player, and India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu was served a cold one on Sunday evening at the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort in Cyprus.Just twenty-four hours earlier, we were celebrating…
Vaishali Rameshbabu vs Aleksandra Goryachkina (Photo by Niki Riga) NEW DELHI: For the first time at the Women’s Candidates in Cyprus, someone has asserted her dominance, and, to no one’s surprise, it is India’s very own Vaishali Rameshbabu.Playing with the black pieces in Round 11 on Saturday, she claimed a jaw-dropping win over the former…
