Grand Swiss 2025: Vaishali in joint lead with a round left; primed for Candidates spot
Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, and Vidit Gujrathi are all just half-a-point behind the leaders in open section.
R Vaishali jointly leads the 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss after the penultimate round (Photo credit: Michal Walusza/FIDE)
For the second time in as many editions, India's Vaishali Rameshbabu is placed comfortably to win the 2025 Women's FIDE Grand Swiss and earn a spot at Women's Candidates with just a round of play left.
After the penultimate round which concluded on Sunday, Vaishali is in joint lead with 7.5 points after ten rounds along with Kateryna Lagno.
The Indian climbed to lead after a win against Mariya Muzychuk with the white pieces on Sunday.
With two candidates spots on offer in the tournament for top two finishers, Vaishali looks primed to qualify for the prestigious event for second time in a row.
She had qualified for the 2024 Women's Candidates, after winning the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss.
Vaishali will face off against China's Tan Zhongyi in the final round of the tournament.
A win with the black pieces should all but ensure a safe passage to the Women's Candidates as well as the title for the defending champion. A draw or loss on the other hand, could bring tiebreaks into play, depending on other final round results.
Apart from leaders Vaishali and Lagno, Tan, Song Yuxin, and Bibisara Assaubayeva are also all in contention with 7 points against their name.
Arjun, Vidit, Nihal trail by half point
Meanwhile in the open section, the Indian trio of Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, and Vidit Gujrathi are all trailing the leaders by half-a-point after the penultimate round.
They all have 6.5 points after ten rounds of play along with six others.
Meanwhile, a total of five players – Matthias Bluebaum, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Hans Niemann, and Vincent Keymer – share the joint lead with 7 points.
While Erigaisi will face Keymer in the final round on Monday, Gujrathi and Sarin will go up against the young Abhimanyu Mishra and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave respectively.
Both Mishra and Lagrave also have 6.5 points after the penultimate round.
Gujrathi, who is the reigning champion, along with Erigaisi and Sarin will need to win their respective matches and hope other results go their way to stand any chance of winning the title and qualifying for the Candidates.
Erigaisi is the best placed Indian to earn that Candidates spot with a better tiebreak score than the other two.
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