New Delhi: The clock of judgment has arrived. Unless a tiebreaker is forced and we have to wait another day, on Wednesday the Mediterranean shores of Cyprus will decide who will be crowned the female contender to challenge China’s Ju Wenjin in a match for the Women’s World Chess Championship later this year.In the race for the title, there are three contenders: India’s Vaishali Ramesh Babu, Kazakhstan’s Bebisara Isaubaifa, and China’s Zhu Jin. Vaishali and Babysara currently lead with 7.5/13 points, followed by Jenner at 7/13. The math is simple but somewhat confusing. If Vaishali and Babesara both win their final games, they go into a tiebreak on Thursday. If Vaishali wins and the others drop points, she is the champion. However, if she draws and B Besara wins, the Kazakh prodigy will take the title, mirroring the feat of her partner Javakhir Sundarov, who won the Open section with one round to spare on Tuesday. If Vaishali and Babysara draw and Jenner wins, it will once again be a case of China in the women’s world championship match.
On Tuesday, all eyes were on Vaishali’s high-stakes Takara against former world champion Tan Zongi. Although a win put the Indians in the driver’s seat, the game ended in a hard-fought draw.
A Strategic Stalemate: An Analysis of Round 13
In his analysis of the round, grandmaster Praveen Thipse, speaking to TimesofIndia.com, noted that Ten is in poor form with three defeats in the tournament, lacking the creative spark needed to break the deadlock.“Vishali (with the black pieces) played the Queen’s Gambit Accepted Deferred, a system Praganananda has also begun to employ. The game had reached a standard position played 70 or 80 years ago,” Thipse observed. “On the eighth move, Ten Zhonggi made a strange move (8…Nge2). Knight is at F3; The idea was probably to bring it to the G3 and E4, which seems like a theoretical novelty without much merit.” Vaishali equalized comfortably, but Theapse felt she had missed opportunities to gain more. “By a measure of 12, I would have preferred black. But Vaishali was feeling annoyed. Instead of taking 12… Nxc4, he prepared 12… Bf5 and then retreated the knight from B6 to D7 (with 17… Nd7). This bishop had to be captured first.”The momentum shifted to Tan, who missed a golden opportunity on the 26th move (26. Qe2). “Ten didn’t dare take the A6 pawn with the queen. Qxa6 would have had a reasonably good advantage,” Thipsay added. “Instead, he played defensive chess and forced a draw. Somehow, it wasn’t a great game; the players didn’t find the perfect squares for their bishops or the right moments to exchange.”
Scenarios before the final round.
The leaderboard took another dramatic turn when Zhu Jiner, pushing for a win against Aleksandra Goryachkina, made a mistake and lost. This gave Bibi Sara a chance to join Vaishali after her win over Anna Muzichuk.“It’s a very strange turn of events,” Thipse said. “Now, everything depends on the end game. In the final round, Vaishali will face Russia’s Katerina Ligno in white, while Bibi Sara will face India’s Duya Deshmukh in black. Both will try to reach 8.5 points.”Also read: No handshake! India’s Harika Dronaveli breaks her silence on Uzbek GM’s ‘Namaste’ specialChanges for Wednesday are complex. “In an unusual event where both Vaishali and Babysara lose, and Zhu Jin wins against Anna Mozychak, Zhu Jin can still emerge victorious with 8 points,” Thapse told the website.Vaishali stands on the cusp of history. She has the pieces in white and the pace of a leader, but among the contenders, does she have the nerve to own the stage? Time will tell. Women’s Section: Round 13 Results – April 14
- Bibisara Assaubayeva 1-0 Anna Muzyczyk
- Katrina Ligno 1–0 Divya Deshmukh
- Tan Zhonggi 0.5–0.5 Vaishali Ramesh Babu
- Zoe Jenner 0–1 Alexandra Gorychkina
Women’s Section: Round 14 Pairs – April 15
- Anna Mozychuk vs Zoe Jenner
- Alexandra Gurichkina vs. Tan Zhongyi
- Vaishali Ramesh Babu Vs Katrina Ligno
- Divya Deshmukh vs Bibi Sara Asobaifa
