FIDE Tbilisi Grand Prix: R Vaishali finds her second win of the event

Indian Grandmaster (GM) R Vaishali has finally found her second win in Georgia. She took a solid win over home-favorite, Nana Dzagnidze with the black pieces in the penultimate round at the FIDE Tbilisi Grand Prix 2024 on Friday.

She has now jumped up to the eighth position with 3.5 points in eight rounds. However, she is now out of the title race as only one round left at the event and she has a difference of 1.5 points from the top.

In this match, Nana had a solid lead from the opening and was looking to convert it into a win but at move 37, she made a huge mistake and gave Vaishali a chance to turn over the match.

Vaishali grabbed the opportunity and converted the match into a win after a gritting 65-move marathon run. This was only the second win of the tournament for her after the round-3 victory against Spain's Sara Khadem.

In the other matches, Alina Kashlinskaya of Poland and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine also clinched wins in their respective matches and kept their hopes alive in the tournament.

Alina has now reached to the joint top position in the league table alongside Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan with 5 points.

Bibisara will be taking on India's R Vaishali in the final match of the tournament sighting a victory from the tournament. Meanwhile, Vaishali looking to finish the tournament on a high can spoil her party.

Final Round Matchups

1 - Stavroula Tsolakidou (FID) Vs Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI)

2 - Vaishali R (IND) Vs Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ)

3 - Sara Khadem (ESP) Vs Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)

4 - Lela Javakhishvili (GEO) Vs Anna Muzychuk (UKR)

5 - Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) Vs Alina Kashlinskaya (POL)