In a landmark moment for Indian chess, R. Vaishali won the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2026, earning the right to challenge reigning world champion Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Chess Championship title later this year.
The 24-year-old Grandmaster was consistent throughout the tournament, finishing with 8.5 points from 14 rounds. The tournament, held in Paphos, Cyprus, featured eight top-ranked players playing in a double round-robin format. Interestingly, Vaishali was the lowest-rated player in the eight-woman field, which comprised stars such as Norway Chess champion Anna Muzychuk, women's World Rapid champion Aleksandra Goryachkina, world blitz champion Bibisara Assaubayeva, and China's Zhu Jiner and former Candidates winner Tan Zhongyi, and even her compatriot and the World Cup winner last year, Divya Deshmukh.
She emerged as a contender with a draw and two wins, but a loss to Zhu Jiner paused her run. There were multiple contenders for the title even in the penultimate round, with Vaishali among two players on 7.5 points and Zhu Jiner on 7. But her win over Kateryna Lagno in a nearly five-hour-long match sealed her place in the World Championship final.
It is the first time an Indian woman has won the Candidates tournament, and her achievement earned her praise from five-time world champion and Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand.
It is a defining moment for Vaishali, who has been in the shadow of her younger and more celebrated brother, R. Praggnanandhaa. The latter qualified for the Open section of the Candidates tournament, but went out of contention early, ending his hopes of challenging compatriot D. Gukesh for the World Chess Championship title later this year.
Last year, in Toronto, Vaishali had qualified for the Candidates but finished joint second, missing out on a shot at the World Championship.
Vaishali became only the third Indian woman Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and D. Harika, in December 2023. She earned her International Master title in 2021, before clinching a historic individual bronze at the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai in 2022, and also helping the team win a bronze.
She qualified for the Candidates by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss tournament last year.