As expected, Tan Zhongyi won the FIDE Women’s Candidates 2024 but R. Vaishali exceeded all expectations by cruising to a fifth successive victory and finishing joint runner-up with compatriot K. Humpy and defending champion Lei Tingjie in Toronto on Sunday.
Facing a struggling Anna Muzychuk, a draw was enough for Tan to emerge as the challenger to the World champion and fellow Chinese Ju Wenjun. Lei was hoping for Tan’s defence and vying to overcome Humpy in a bid to share the championship title.
But that was not to be.
In fact, the race for the runner-up ended in a three-way tie. Humpy’s victory brought her at par with Lei in the second spot before Vaishali joined the duo with a victory over Russian Kateryna Lagno.
As a result, after Tan ensured the title with a tally of nine points, Humpy, Vaishali and Lei shared the second spot with 7.5 points.
Tan looked good to finish with a win against Anna after holding a good position until the 28th move but chose to draw within the next 10 moves.
On the last day, Vaishali and Humpy were the only winners.
Vaishali continued her glorious run after a game of fluctuating fortunes against Kateryna Lagno. Playing black, Vaishali faced some anxious moments in the middle game and fell severely behind on time, too. But soon, Lagno lost her advantage by choosing an incorrect continuation.
Later, Lagno faltered decisively on the 31st move by allowing Vaishali counterplay on the kingside. Vaishali’s relentless aggression paid off and Lagno resigned.
Meanwhile, Humpy was involved in a tactical warfare with Lei. In the middle game, both players displayed their tactical acumen. After Lei saw a long tactical shot that involved the trading of queens, Humpy emerged with a rook for a bishop. Humpy went on to capture the bishop and her extra rook proved too strong. When the game ended, Humpy had two rooks and Lei was without a piece.
Top seed Goryachkina appeared keen to finish her campaign on a high but Salimova proved too tough to crack. After 22 moves, Goryachkina had a great opportunity to pin down Salimova but she missed a trick. Slowly, Salimova regained lost ground to come out with honours even.
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