April 9, New Delhi: At the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2026 in Cyprus, R. Vaishali defeated Divya Deshmukh in a match between two Indian players, maintaining her lead after Round 9.
Vaishali now shares the lead with Zhu Jiner, who won her match against Kateryna Lagno. Both players have 5.5 points. A key moment in the match was Vaishali's tactical play, including a rook exchange sacrifice on move 23 and another on move 31, which forced Divya to resign, giving Vaishali the lead.
Divya Deshmukh is now in joint third place with 4.5 points. With five rounds remaining, the race for the top spot remains wide open.
In the Open Candidates, Anish Giri stunned second seed Fabiano Caruana, taking the sole second position with 5.5 points, 1.5 behind leader Javokhir Sindarov. R. Praggnanandhaa was unable to capitalize on a better position against Wei Yi and settled for a draw.