FIDE Candidates 2026: Vaishali registers fourth win; solidifies lead

India's Vaishali Rameshbabu registered her fourth win in six rounds as she took down Aleksandra Goryachkina in Round 11 of the 2026 FIDE Candidates to solidify her spot as the leader of women's competition on Saturday.

Playing with the black pieces, Vaishali forced a resignation out of Goryachkina in 45 moves.

In a London system game both the players were evenly matched well into the middle game, before Goryachkina misplayed her white-squared bishop to c4 on the 30th move.

It proved to be a decisive error as Vaishali emerged with the better of exchanges two moves later. The Indian gave up a pawn and a bishop for the white rook.

From that point onwards, Vaishali was in complete control and pressed home the advantage without breaking a sweat.

The win propelled Vaishali to 7 points and put her in sole lead with just three rounds of play left.

Meanwhile, Divya Deshmukh played out a draw with the black pieces against a higher rated Zhu Jiner of China.

Deshmukh, the youngest player in the women's field, was never in any trouble as she employed the Sicilian defence to perfection to win half-a-point. She now has 5 points in 11 rounds.

Praggnanandhaa held to a draw

Elsewhere in the open section, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was held to a draw by Matthias Bluebaum.

Playing with the white pieces, Praggnanandhaa had a significant advantage as Bluebaum blundered his rook on the 33rd move. 

The Indian, however, failed to find the right move and erred himself before the two players shook hands after a three-fold repetition on the 42nd move.

The draw means Praggnanandhaa sits seventh in the standings with just 4.5 points out of a possible 11.