Paphos (Cyprus), April 8 R Vaishali kept Indian hopes alive by defeating her compatriot Divya Deshmukh in the ninth round of the Women's Candidates Chess Tournament here on Wednesday.
After what could be described as a cautious start, Vaishali has been aggressively pursuing a win in every game, and this victory kept her in the lead alongside Jiner Zhu of China, with both players having 5.5 points out of a possible eight.
With five more rounds to come in the women's competition, early leader Anna Muzychuk is in close pursuit of the two leaders, trailing by half a point. Divya, Kateryna Lagno of Ukraine, and Bibisara Assuabayeva are also close behind.
The only player who is out of contention here is former world women's champion Zhongyi Tan, who is still looking for the winning touch.
In the open section, Anish Giri almost ended the hopes of the pre-event favourite, Fabiana Caruana of the United States, scoring a brilliant win once again.
The leader, Javokhir Sindarov, played the "catch-me-if-you-can" game with the followers, as he secured another draw, albeit a hard-fought one, against Matthias Bluebaum of Germany.
As things stand in the open section, Sindarov has seven points from nine games, followed closely by Giri of Holland, who has reinvented himself to have 5.5 points.
It remains to be seen if Giri can catch up with Sindarov, but the Uzbek has three games remaining with white pieces.
R Praggnanadhaa tried to prove a point against Wei Yi of China, but the Indian clearly spoiled a much better position in the middle game, and the match is still on.
Results round 9: R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 2) vs Wei Yi (CHN, 3.5); Anish Giri (NED, 5.5) vs Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5); Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 7) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 4); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 3) vs Andrey Esipenko (RUS, 2.5).
Women: R Vaishali (IND, 5.5) vs Divya Deshmukh (IND, 4.5); Jiner Zhu (CHN, 5.5) vs Kateryna Lagno (RUS, 4.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS, 4) drew with Bibisara Assuabayeva (KAZ, 4); Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 5) drew with Zhongyi Tan (CHN, 3).