Historic Triumph: R Vaishali wins Candidates, earns World Championship match against Ju Wenjun,

GM Vaishali R will challenge Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Chess Championship after winning the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 outright with an impressive score of 8.5/14. In a thrilling final round, Vaishali defeated Kateryna Lagno in a magnificent display of technique, while Bibisara Assaubayeva could only manage a draw against Divya Deshmukh.

Meanwhile, Javokhir Sindarov, who had already secured victory in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 before the final round, agreed to a quick draw with Wei Yi. This result allowed Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana to climb the standings with impressive final-round victories over Matthias Bluebaum and Andrey Esipenko, respectively.