India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu continues her dominant run in the Round 11 at the ongoing 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. On Saturday, April 11, in Round 11, the Indian registered her fourth win in the tournament after defeating Aleksandra Goryachkina in six rounds. With the win, Vaishali has solidified her ranking, resulting as the tournament’s leader in the women’s competition on Saturday.
Playing with the black pieces, Vaishali got out of Goryachkina in 45 moves. Both players were tied in the middle game, but Goryachkina ended up misplacing her white-squared bishop on the 30th move to c4. Resulting in a decisive error, Vaishali emerged over Goryachkina in exchange two moves later. She gave up a pawn and a bishop for the white rook.
After that, Vaishali looked in complete control and took the home advantage without breaking a sweat. The win got Vaishali to seven points and the sole lead. Only three rounds are left to play in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Divya Deshmukh drew in a draw playing with the black pieces against top seed Zhu Jiner of China. The Indian is the youngest player to compete in the women’s event. She perfectly employed the Sicilian defence to register half-a-point. Deshmukh now has five points from 11 rounds.
Meanwhile, in the open section, India’s men’s grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa held to a draw by Matthias Bluebaum. He played with the white pieces and had a slight advantage with Bluebaum blundering on the 33rd move. But the Indian failed to get the move and ended up in error. The game resulted in both players shaking their hands after a three-fold repetition on the 42nd move.
With the draw, Praggnanandhaa now sits in seventh place in the standings with 4.5 points from the 11 rounds played in the tournament.
Women’s Candidates Round 11 Results
Vaishali Rameshbabu 1-0 Aleksandra Goryachkina
Bibisara Assaubayeva 1–0 Zhu Jiner
Kateryna Lagno ½–½ Anna Muzychuk
Tan Zhongyi ½–½ Bibisara Assaubayeva
Zhu Jiner ½–½ Divya Deshmukh
