Women’s Candidates R13: Tan widens the gap as Vaishali beats Lei

Vaishali’s astounding comeback

Tan Zhongyi is a half point away from becoming the next challenger for the Women’s World Championship title. Besides getting an early lead and showing strong and consistent play throughout the event, Tan was helped in the last four rounds by Vaishali R’s incredible comeback. The Indian GM-elect had a fifty-percent score after round 5; she then lost four games in a row; only to bounce back with four consecutive wins in rounds 10-13, including victories over Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie.

Vaishali’s win over Lei on Saturday allowed Tan to go into the final round with a full-point lead over her compatriot. Vaishali v. Lei was the one game that ended decisively in round 13, with Lei faltering in a drawn queen endgame, as she allowed Vaishali to simplify into a winning king and pawn endgame.

In the final round, Tan will play black against Anna Muzychuk. Muzychuk is tied for last place and is the only player who has remained winless throughout the event. However, the Ukrainian grandmaster more than once obtained clearly superior positions which she failed to convert into full points.

Lei, on her part, will face Humpy Koneru with the white pieces. Of course, Lei needs to go all out for the win, as it is her only chance of catching up with her compatriot in the final standings and setting up a playoff to decide the tournament winner.

Results - Round 13

	Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.		Pts.		Name	Rtg	Nt.
GM	Tan,Z GM Tan,Z 2521 1 GM Lei,T 2550 1 2 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 3 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 4 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 5 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 6 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 7 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 8 GM Lei,T 2550 0 9 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 10 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 11 GM Lagno,K 2542 1 12 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 13 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ Ø 2517 8.5/13	2521		8	½-½	6	GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 3 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 4 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 5 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 6 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 7 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 8 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 9 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 10 GM Lei,T 2550 0 11 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 12 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 13 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ Ø 2518 6.5/13	2553
GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 3 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 4 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 5 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 6 GM Lagno,K 2542 0 7 GM Lei,T 2550 0 8 GM Koneru,H 2546 0 9 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 10 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 11 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 12 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 13 GM Lei,T 2550 1 Ø 2522 6.5/13	2475		5½	1-0	7½	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 3 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 4 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 5 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 6 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 7 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 8 GM Tan,Z 2521 1 9 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 10 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 11 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 12 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 13 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 Ø 2510 7.5/13	2550
GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 3 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 4 WGM Salimova,N 2432 0 5 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 6 GM Lei,T 2550 0 7 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 8 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 9 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 10 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 11 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 12 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 13 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ Ø 2510 6.5/13	2546		6	½-½	4½	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 3 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 4 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 5 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 6 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 7 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 8 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 9 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 10 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 11 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 12 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 13 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ Ø 2517 5/13	2520
WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 3 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 4 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 5 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 6 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 7 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 8 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 9 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 10 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 11 GM Koneru,H 2546 0 12 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 13 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ Ø 2528 5/13	2432		4½	½-½	6	GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 3 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 4 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 5 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 6 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 7 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 8 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 9 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 10 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 11 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 12 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 13 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ Ø 2517 6.5/13	2542

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Tan Zhongyi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

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Standings after round 13

Rk.		Name	Rtg.	Nt.	Pts.	n	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	TB	Perf.
1	GM	Tan,Z GM Tan,Z 2521 1 GM Lei,T 2550 1 2 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 3 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 4 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 5 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 6 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 7 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 8 GM Lei,T 2550 0 9 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 10 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 11 GM Lagno,K 2542 1 12 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 13 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ Ø 2517 8.5/13	2521		8.5	13		1 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	1	53.25	2627
2	GM	Lei,T GM Lei,T 2550 1 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 2 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 3 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 4 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 5 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 6 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 7 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 8 GM Tan,Z 2521 1 9 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 10 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 11 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 12 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 13 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 Ø 2510 7.5/13	2550		7.5	13	0 1		1	½ ½	½ 1	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	47.75	2567
3	GM	Koneru,H GM Koneru,H 2546 1 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 2 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 3 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 4 WGM Salimova,N 2432 0 5 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 6 GM Lei,T 2550 0 7 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 8 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 9 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 10 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 11 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 12 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 13 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ Ø 2510 6.5/13	2546		6.5	13	½ ½	0		½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	41.25	2510
4	GM	Lagno,K GM Lagno,K 2542 1 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 2 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 3 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 4 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 5 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 6 GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 7 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 8 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 9 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 10 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 11 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 12 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 13 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ Ø 2517 6.5/13	2542		6.5	13	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½		½ ½	1	½ ½	½ ½	41.25	2517
5	GM	Goryachkina,A GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 2 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 3 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 4 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 5 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 6 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 7 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 8 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 9 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 10 GM Lei,T 2550 0 11 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 12 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 13 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ Ø 2518 6.5/13	2553		6.5	13	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½		½ 0	1	1 ½	41.00	2518
6	GM	Vaishali,R GM Vaishali,R 2475 1 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 2 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 3 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 4 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 5 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 6 GM Lagno,K 2542 0 7 GM Lei,T 2550 0 8 GM Koneru,H 2546 0 9 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 10 WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 11 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 1 12 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 13 GM Lei,T 2550 1 Ø 2522 6.5/13	2475		6.5	13	0 0	0 1	½ 0	0	½ 1		1 1	½ 1	38.00	2522
7	WGM	Salimova,N WGM Salimova,N 2432 1 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 2 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 3 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 4 GM Koneru,H 2546 1 5 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 6 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 7 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 8 GM Muzychuk,A 2520 ½ 9 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 10 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 11 GM Koneru,H 2546 0 12 GM Tan,Z 2521 ½ 13 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ Ø 2528 5/13	2432		5.0	13	½ ½	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	0	0 0		½ ½	34.00	2441
8	GM	Muzychuk,A GM Muzychuk,A 2520 1 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 2 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 0 3 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 4 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 5 GM Vaishali,R 2475 ½ 6 GM Tan,Z 2521 0 7 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ 8 WGM Salimova,N 2432 ½ 9 GM Goryachkina,A 2553 ½ 10 GM Lagno,K 2542 ½ 11 GM Lei,T 2550 ½ 12 GM Vaishali,R 2475 0 13 GM Koneru,H 2546 ½ Ø 2517 5/13	2520		5.0	13	0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ 0	½ ½		32.00	2430
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

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A completely exhausted Ian Nepomniachtchi!

Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster

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Vaishali and her mother, Nagalakshmi

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Links

• Official Candidates Tournaments website
• On the way to Toronto: Candidates’ performances in Wijk aan Zee
• FIDE publishes regulations for 2024 Candidates Tournaments
• Who will win the 2024 Candidates Tournament?