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 escaped with a draw against Anna Muzychuk | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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.
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 v. Kateryna Lagno | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
The tournament's top seed signing autographs | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga
