FIDE Candidates 2026: Divya, Vaishali register first wins in Round 6

India's GM Divya Deshmukh and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu registered their first win of the 2026 FIDE Candidates in Round 6 of the tournament on Saturday.

Both Divya and Vaishali bagged the victory with black pieces to move to 3 points in 6 rounds. They now trail leader Anna Muzychuk by a point.

Vaishali, who entered the match after suffering her first loss of the tournament on Friday, outplayed Kateryna Lagno in 47 moves.

In a match which saw both players make multiple errors, the Indian prevailed with an accuracy of 87.6% compared to Lagno's 80.5%.

Just minutes later, Divya took down Bibisara Assaubayeva to cap off a successful day for Indians in Cyprus. 

In a Queen's Gambit Declined opening, Divya fought back from a slightly inferior position in the middle game to take complete control after denying her opponent a three-fold-repetition on the 34th move.

Six moves later Bibisara pushed her pawn on the f-file a bit too much, and Divya duly converted for a win.

Praggnanandhaa draws

Earlier in the day, India's Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu played out a comfortable draw with the black pieces against world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura in the open section.

The Indian employed a solid variation of the Nimzo Indian defence and with Nakamura not eager to press hard for a win, the two repeated thrice as early as the 23rd move to pocket half-a-point each.

Praggnanandhaa now has 3 points after six rounds.