BENGALURU: R Vaishali, who had a slow start to the Candidates, is now the sole leader of the tournament. On a day when R Praggnanandhaa's hopes effectively ended with a loss to Javokhir Sindarov in the Open section, Vaishali's hopes soared.
She was the joint leader coming into the 10th round. When it ended in Cyprus on Thursday, the Indian, thanks to her draw, led the field by 0.5 as Zhu Jiner lost to Bibisara Assaubayeva. Vaishali, playing with the black pieces against Anna Muzychuk, played a rock solid game and didn't give the Ukrainian as much as a sniff.
In a gruelling tournament like the Candidates, it's considered important to go into rest day in a good frame of mind. She has certainly managed to do that before the final rounds begin with a game against Aleksandra Goryachkina on Saturday. The Russian had taken down the other Indian in the eight-player field, Divya Deshmukh.
While Vaishali is the sole leader with six, 1.5 points separates six players so it's still all to play for.
Results: Open (Rd 10): Javokhir Sindarov bt R Praggnanandhaa, Anish Giri drew with Hikaru Nakamura, Andrey Esipenko drew with Matthias Bluebaum, Wei Yi drew with Fabiano Caruana.
Women: Anna Muzychuk drew with R Vaishali, Bibisara Assaubayeva bt Zhu Jiner, Aleksandra Goryachkina bt Divya Deshmukj, Kateryna Lagno drew with Tan Zhongyi
