GM Rameshbabu Vaishali continues her good strong showcase at the ongoing FIDE Women’s Candidates 2026 in Cyprus. On Thursday, April 9, in the Round 10 clash the Indian player after defeating Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk has taken the lead in the women’s section by half-a-point. With the lead she now sits at 6/10.
The game saw Vaishali setting up a solid defensive against Anna and forced to a draw after 42 moves. The game was a pawn-bishop endgame. Meanwhile, World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh faced her second straight defeat against Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina. After the loss, the 20-year-old Indian has dropped down to seventh spot in the tournament standings with 4.5 points.
The competition will next begin with the 11th round on Friday, April 10, where India’s Vaishali will take on Goryachkina and Deshmukh will face China’s Zhu Jiner.
Meanwhile, in the men open section, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa suffered defeat to the tournament top seed Javokhir Sindarov in 53 moves after resulting in a Queen’s Gambit Declined Variation.
Playing with the black pieces, Praggnanandhaa made a steady start but fell into an error on the 22nd move while losing his queen for two rooks. This was enough for Sindarov to convert and take a two-point lead in the tournament. With just four rounds left in the competition. Praggnanandhaa has dropped down to seventh place with four points achieved from 10 games played.
With that his campaign at the Candidates 2026 Tournament in Cyprus comes to an end.
Women’s FIDE Candidates Round 10 Results
Anna Muzychuk 1½-½ Vaishali Rameshbabu
Bibisara Assaubayeva 1-0 Zhu Jiner
Aleksandra Goryachkina 1-0 Divya Deshmukh
Kateryna Lagno ½-½ Tan Zhongyi
Men’s Open Section Round 10 Results
Javokhir Sindarov 1-0 R. Praggnanandhaa
Anish Giri 1½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Wei Yi 1½-½ Fabiano Caruana
Andrey Esipenko 1/2-1/2 Matthias Bluebaum
