Women’s Candidates R10: Lei wins again, shares the lead with Tan

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
4/17/2024 – Lei Tingjie scored a fourth win in five rounds to join Tan Zhongyi in the lead of the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Lei defeated direct contender Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces. With four rounds to go, the Chinese leading duo stands a full point ahead of Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno. Meanwhile, one more game ended decisively on Monday, with Vaishali R first surviving a losing position and then managing to beat Nurgyul Salimova. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Lei beats a direct contender

Aleksandra Goryachkina, the top seed in the Women’s Candidates, remained dangerously close behind tournament leader Tan Zhongyi in the standings. In round 10, though, the Russian GM suffered her first loss of the event, as she was defeated by an in-form Lei Tingjie. Goryachkina is now tied for third place with Kateryna Lagno, a full point behind Tan and Lei.

Co-leaders Tan and Lei coincidentally played in the final of the latest edition of the Women’s Candidates — which had been played as a knockout tournament. In the all-Chinese match, Lei obtained a clear 3½-1½ victory to gain the right to face Ju Wenjun in the 2023 match for the Women’s World Championship.

Tan and Lei have already faced each other twice in Toronto, with both games ending decisively, each favouring the player marshalling the black pieces. In the remaining four rounds, Tan has a more difficult schedule, as she still has to face Goryachkina and Lagno.

One more game ended decisively on Monday. Nurgyul Salimova got a clear advantage and then a completely winning position playing white against Vaishali R. However, the Bulgarian IM lost her advantage, and then failed to readjust to the new situation, as she kept pushing for more, which resulted in Vaishali getting the upper hand. Vaishali made the most of her unexpected winning chances to end up prevailing in a wild 88-move encounter.

Results - Round 10

Nurgyul Salimova, Vaishali Rameshbabu

Vaishali Rameshbabu beat Nurgyul Salimova after having suffered four losses in a row | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Goryachkina 0 - 1 Lei

Analysis by André Schulz

Aleksandra Goryachkina

Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza


Expert analysis by WIM Svitlana Demchenko


More photos from round 10

Humpy Koneru

Humpy Koneru got a superior position against Tan Zhongyi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Humpy Koneru, Tan Zhongyi

Tan Zhongyi managed to escape with a draw | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Nurgyul Salimova

Nurgyul Salimova | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Lei Tingjie

A smiling Lei Tingjie after joining the lead — will she get a rematch against Ju Wenjun? | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Standings after round 10

All games


The intense clash of leaders

Two rare interviews!

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.