R Vaishali finished 10th and last in the Chennai Challengers tournament just a couple of weeks before the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss. The GM lost about 24 rating points too. But the experience of playing against men and having brother R Praggnanandhaa as sparring partner was probably a strong way to prepare.Vaishali won the biennial Grand Swiss meet second time in a row when she drew with China’s world championship finalist Tan Zhongyi. Though Vaishali and Russian No. 4 seed Kateryna Lagno finished level on 8 points each, the 24-year-old Indian, seeded 13th, finished on top because she played against stronger opponents (avg Elo 2434 vs Lagno’s 2433). Lagno, 35, spouse of Alexander Grischuk, drew with Azerbaijan’s Ulviyya Fataliyeva in the last round. Playing under the FIDE flag, she also qualified for the eight-player Candidates tournament as the top-two finishers at Samarkand (Uzbekistan) were to make the grade.India will have at least three women in the Candidates meet now as Divya Deshmukh and K Humpy had already made the grade after finishing the champion and runner-up respectively in the Women’s World Cup. However, the top three seeds in the Open section of Grand Swiss — R Praggnanandhaa, Erigaisi Arjun and D Gukesh — finished 35th, 6th and 41st respectively. Dutch Anish Giri, who lost out to Gukesh for the Candidates spot for 2024 via the 2023 FIDE circuit points race, won the 11-round tournament in style beating Hans Niemann of USA to finish on 8 points.With the top-board game between Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum and Frechman Alireza Firouzja ending in a draw (7.5 points each), Anish was assured of the top-2 finish. For, even if overnight joint leader Vincent Keymer had beaten Arjun, Keymer and Anish would have topped with 8 points each without needing tiebreaks.As it turned out, the Indians could not clinch the spots on their own but they stopped others. Arjun held Keymer to a draw and helped Bluebaum to qualify. Last edition’s champion Vidit Gujrathi split a point with US prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra. The latter had the best tiebreak and would have edged out Bluebaum with a win. Among those who finished on 7.5 points each (Firouzja and Keymer being the others), Bluebaums’ tiebreak was the best. His surprise qualification for the Candidates via this tournament is in tune with the tradition as Vidit (2023) and Wang Hao (2019) — both 15th seeds — had won this event ahead of elite participants.Bluebaum’s run to the second spot despite being the 32nd seed is a story of the tournament. The 28-year-old GM’s (Elo 2671) impressive display had three successive wins, including the scalp of Pragg. He also defeated Arjun and drew the last four games with fellow contenders Nihal Sarin, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Keymer and Firouzja.
