‘Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial.’
IMAGE: R Vaishali became the first player to win the elite event in the women’s section for a second consecutive time and earn herself a spot in the next year’s Candidates Tournament. Photograph: R Vaishali/Instagram
Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali says the FIDE Grand Swiss title triumph in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, has come at a crucial juncture for her after having endured a year that was “not going” well despite her persistent effort to improve.
Vaishali became the first player to win the elite event in the women’s section for a second consecutive time and besides a prize cheque of US$40,000, Vaishali also earned herself a spot in the next year’s Candidates Tournament.
“It’s hard to choose,” Vaishali said when asked to compare her 2023 victory in the same event with the recent triumph.
“In 2023, the Grand Swiss victory came at the very right moment, I hadn’t played well for a long time, a lot of things fell into place,” she explained.
“Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial,” she noted.
Vaishali became the third Indian to make the cut for the Candidates apart from Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy.
The tournament will select the challenger for the next women’s World Championship clash against Wenjun Ju of China.
“(I had) A lot of experience in the last two years, many tough tournaments, in the Candidates (2024) I lost four games in a row, there were many tough moments like that that made me stronger as a player and as a person,” Vaishali said.
IMAGE: R Vaishali was joined by Kateryna Lagno of Russia in the lead after Round 4 of the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Photograph: FIDE/Michal Walusza
Coming into this year’s Grand Swiss, the 24-year-old Chennai player’s confidence had hit rock bottom.
She had managed just 1.5 points in nine rounds of the Chennai Grand Masters tournament after losing in the quarterfinals of the women’s World Cup to China’s Tan Zhongyi.
Before that disappointment she had managed a fifth-place finish in the six-strong field of the Norway chess women’s tournament in May.
“In my previous tournament at Chennai GM I lost seven games, I lost one week in a row, I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, then sometimes when I win, I am unstoppable,” Vaishali replied.
“…actually when I lost to Bibisara (Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan) I am happy I did not collapse, I drew the next game and kind of settled in,” she said referring to the eighth round loss in the just-concluded tournament.
With a total of eight seats up for grabs in the women’s candidates, seven are already taken.
Apart from the Indian trio, the Chinese duo of Jiner Zhu and Zhongyi Tan and Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno are already in the bracket and the last remaining place will be decided soon.
