4/16/2026 – Vaishali Rameshbabu won the Women’s Candidates Tournament by defeating Kateryna Lagno in the final round, finishing clear first on 8½/14 and earning the right to challenge Ju Wenjun for the world title. Bibisara Assaubayeva drew with Divya Deshmukh and finished in sole second place, while Zhu Jiner and Aleksandra Goryachkina shared third. Arne Kähler caught first impressions from the players. | Photo: ChessBase / Nils Rohde
An outright winner emerges!
Vaishali Rameshbabu won the Women’s Candidates Tournament after defeating Kateryna Lagno with the white pieces to secure first place outright and avoid the need for playoffs. The result earned her the right to challenge Ju Wenjun in the next match for the Women’s World Championship title.
The final round had begun with six players still holding mathematical chances of winning the tournament. Vaishali and Bibisara Assaubayeva shared the lead, while Zhu Jiner stood half a point behind. Three more players, each a half point further back, could (incredibly) also still reach a playoff, given the final-round pairings. Tiebreaks seemed very likely. In the end, however, none were needed.
Lagno was one of the players who began the day a point behind the leaders, which meant that she needed to play for a win while marshalling the black pieces against Vaishali. As a result, she adopted an ambitious approach, and this ultimately worked in the Indian GM’s favour.
Vaishali was able to gain an advantage quite quickly out of the opening and never lost control of the game afterwards. She converted efficiently and finished the event on 8½/14.
