Women's Candidates R9: Zhu and Vaishali share the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
4/9/2026 – Vaishali Rameshbabu and Zhu Jiner are sharing the lead after round nine of the Women's Candidates Tournament, following wins over Divya Deshmukh and Kateryna Lagno, respectively. Anna Muzychuk drew her game against Tan Zhongyi despite holding a positional advantage and now stands in sole third place, half a point behind. Deshmukh and Lagno trail by another half point, with five rounds remaining and the contest for first place still closely contested. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
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Zhu beats Lagno, Vaishali beats Deshmukh

Five players began round nine of the Women's Candidates Tournament tied for first place, but the situation shifted as two of them scored wins and remained at the top of the standings.

Vaishali Rameshbabu and Zhu Jiner, both playing with the white pieces, defeated Divya Deshmukh and Kateryna Lagno respectively, and remained atop the standings. Anna Muzychuk, who suffered a painful defeat in Tuesday's eighth round, drew her game against Tan Zhongyi after failing to convert a positional advantage in a tricky position and now stands alone in third place, half a point behind the co-leaders.

Deshmukh and Lagno, meanwhile, are a further half point back but remain well within reach with five rounds still to be played in Cyprus.

Round 9 results

Tan Zhongyi, Anna Muzychuk

Tan Zhongyi escaped with a draw against Anna Muzychuk | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Bibisara Assaubayeva

Bibisara Assaubayeva safely held Aleksandra Goryachkina to a draw with the black pieces | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

In the all-Indian encounter between Vaishali and Deshmukh, the latter adopted an ambitious approach in the early middlegame, but a couple of over-optimistic decisions soon left her position vulnerable. In particular, 14...b5?!, a move that was not forced, significantly weakened her c6-pawn and allowed Vaishali to seize the initiative.

Shortly afterwards, Deshmukh miscalculated a critical line, which resulted in the loss of the backward pawn on c6.

From that point on, Vaishali handled the position with precision, maintaining the initiative and repeatedly offering exchange sacrifices to convert her advantage in a controlled manner.

Vaishali did not falter in conversion and secured her third win in four games.

Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh

Divya Deshmukh resigns the game | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Zhu also continued her strong run - she defeated Tan on Tuesday - by defeating direct contender Lagno with the white pieces. Lagno had equalised comfortably out of the opening, but her decision not to play 20...d4 proved a turning point.

Instead, 20...dxe4?! allowed Zhu to take over the initiative with the simple sequence 21.Bxe4 Bxe4 22.Nxe4, after which White obtained a clear positional edge.

Zhu gradually increased the pressure in the endgame. Lagno committed a couple more inaccuracies, which allowed Zhu to secure the full point.

Zhu Jiner, Kateryna Lagno

Zhu Jiner v. Kateryna Lagno | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

Zhu Jiner

The tournament's top seed signing autographs | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

Standings after round 9

All games

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

<< Candidates R9: Giri scores crucial win, now in sole second place
Topics: Candidates 2026, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Zhu Jiner
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.
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