R Vaishali upsets former world champion Mariya Muzychuk

Woman Grandmaster R Vaishali got the better of former world champion Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine after the fourth round of FIDE Men's and Women's Grand Swiss, part of the World Championship cycle, on Saturday.

The Chennai-based player put up a brilliant attacking show to upset Mariya.

At the recently concluded Qatar Masters, Vaishali made her third and final Grandmaster norm.

On Saturday, Vaishali caught Mariya off guard with her attacking game.

Vaishali kept Mariya guessing as she conceded a piece before walking into checkmate web. It took just 23 moves for Vaishali to seal her third victory in four games.

Vidit Gujrathi, on the other hand, registered his third win on the trot, getting the better of former world championship challenger Alexey Shirov of Spain.

Grandmaster Vidit collected points with his brilliant technique with white pieces in a Slav defence game and won two Bishops for a rook. Shirov had no chance thereafter and called it a day quickly.

However, Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi could not capitalise on a good start as he was held to a draw by Alexandr Predke of Serbia.

Arjun was leading the game, and he was well-placed to convert another full point that would have taken him to 3.5 points.

However, Predke found a way to prevent Arjun from winning, salvaging a draw through perpetual checks after sacrificing his queen.