India's R Vaishali on Wednesday won the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2026, earning her the chance to compete for the World Championship against Ju Wenjun later this year.

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali will be under pressure when she takes on former women's world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the penultimate round of the Candidates chess tournament in Paphos.

With four rounds remaining, Vaishali has been the standout among the three Indian players, ahead of her younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa, who is competing in the Open section, and Divya Deshmukh.

The unstoppable Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan made another stride towards the title as he beat India's R Praggnanandhaa to stretch his lead to a massive two points after the end of the tenth round of Candidates chess tournament on Thursday.

Grandmaster R Vaishali was so crestfallen following seven straight losses in the Chennai Grandmasters that she had made up her mind to pull out of the Grand Swiss tournament.

Vaishali became the third Indian to make the cut for the Candidates apart from Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy.