Vaishali wins Women’s Grand Swiss for a second time in a row, Lagno reaches Candidates

Vaishali and Lagno keep things under control

Vaishali Rameshbabu claimed her second consecutive Women’s Grand Swiss title, scoring 8/11 points and edging Kateryna Lagno on the first tiebreak criterion – the average rating of opponents, discounting the lowest-rated one. Both Vaishali and Lagno thus qualified for the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament, joining the five players who had already secured spots through the Women’s World Cup and Women’s Grand Prix.

Vaishali and Lagno entered the final round tied for first after Vaishali’s crucial victory over Mariya Muzychuk in round ten. Going into the last day of play, the Indian grandmaster was the favourite to take tournament victory thanks to her superior tiebreak score. Paired with second seed Tan Zhongyi with black, Vaishali faced a challenging task. Out of a Symmetrical English, Tan gained a slight pull in a queenless middlegame, but Vaishali defended accurately, choosing the right moment to sacrifice a pawn and steer the game into a defensible endgame with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops.

The game ended in a 43-move draw, enough to secure her shared first place.

By the time Vaishali drew, Lagno had already finished her game on board two. Playing White against Ulviyya Fataliyeva, Lagno kept control throughout in a quiet 30-move encounter that also ended peacefully, ensuring that both leaders reached the 8/11 mark.

Vaishali Rameshbabu facing Tan Zhongyi | Photo: Michal Walusza

Kateryna Lagno and Ulviyya Fataliyeva signed a 30-move draw | Photo: Michal Walusza

Two players from the chasing pack still had a chance to catch the leaders. Song Yuxin, playing black against Irina Krush, never obtained winning chances and signed a draw after 30 moves. Bibisara Assaubayeva, however, had a golden opportunity to join the leading duo. Facing top seed Anna Muzychuk with white, the Kazakh star obtained a completely winning position and seemed on course to catch up. On move 47, however, Assaubayeva blundered with 47.Rxc2

Trading rooks into a bishop-versus-knight ending was a mistake, since Black could set up an impregnable fortress despite White’s two extra pawns. The correct move was 47.Bb3, preparing to grab the pawn while keeping rooks on the board and preserving winning chances.

The missed opportunity meant that Assaubayeva finished on 7½/11 points and had to settle for third place.

Assaubayeva’s disappointment is compounded by her earlier miss against Lagno in round nine, where she was also on the verge of victory before letting the advantage slip in the technical phase. Despite this, the 21-year-old finished the event undefeated and is now the frontrunner to claim the final spot in the Candidates via the 2024–25 Women’s Events cycle.

This video course includes GM Anish Giri’s deep insights and IM Sagar Shah’s pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Bibisara Assaubayeva receiving her third-place award | Photo: Michal Walusza

Kateryna Lagno | Photo: Michal Walusza

A remarkable achievement

Vaishali’s victory in Samarkand underlines her ability to have strong performances when the stakes are high. She has now won two of the three editions of the Women’s Grand Swiss that have been held so far – a remarkable feat given that she entered the 2023 edition as the 12^th seed and this year’s as the 13^th. Back in 2023 she scored an undefeated 8½/11, while this year, she had to recover from a round-eight loss against Assaubayeva.

Vaishali’s event featured a blistering start with three straight wins, and she became the sole leader after round seven with 6/7 points. After her only loss, she stabilised her tournament with a draw against Song Yuxin and a crucial win over Mariya Muzychuk before finishing with the valuable half point against Tan. Her performance rating of 2604 brought her a gain of 21.4 rating points, lifting her to number 15 in the women’s live ratings.

At the 2024 Women’s Candidates Tournament, Vaishali tied for second place on 7½/14, famously winning her last five games in a row. Her qualification for the 2026 Candidates now offers her another shot at the world title.

From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!

Vaishali Rameshbabu celebrated with her brother Praggnanandhaa and their mom Nagalakshmi | Photo: Michal Walusza

Aditya Mittal joins the fun | Photo: Michal Walusza

Omonova 0-1 Garifullina

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Final standings

…56 players

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