Queen on the board: On R. Vaishali winning the Women’s Candidates tournament

The value of R. Vaishali winning the Women’s Candidates cannot beryllium overstated. The victor of the gruelling 14-round tournament, featuring the world’s apical chess players, gets the close to situation the World champion; present the 24-year-old, who was not among the favourites successful Cyprus, volition instrumentality connected China’s Ju Wenjun successful the World title aboriginal this year. Vaishali is the archetypal Indian to triumph the Women’s Candidates, which dates backmost to 1952, and present lone the 2nd Indian to contention the Women’s World (classical) chess title match. She indispensable beryllium aiming to go the archetypal Indian to seizure the crown that matters astir successful women’s chess. Besides Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh besides played astatine the Candidates, though she had a forgettable tournament, finishing seventh successful a tract of eight. Divya had made past herself past July erstwhile she won the World Cup: she was the archetypal Indian pistillate to triumph that prestigious event. It is singular that 2 young Indian women person won 2 of the biggest events successful satellite chess wrong a abstraction of 9 months. And Koneru Humpy had clinched her 2nd World accelerated title successful December 2024.

Notwithstanding their successes, and the information that Indian women, similar the men, are the reigning World squad champions (by winning the Chess Olympiad), the state cannot boast of large extent successful women’s chess. While determination is nary shortage of caller endowment among boys connected the Indian chessboard, the communicative is antithetic erstwhile it comes to girls. Women similar Vaishali and Divya are not products of the system; they person succeeded due to the fact that of their parents, and successful the lawsuit of the former, generous firm sponsorship has besides played a role. Corporates person besides contributed to the staggering maturation of Indian chess. The WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA), founded by Sandeep Singhal and five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand, ensured that wealth was nary constraint for Gukesh’s situation for the World rubric against Ding Liren successful 2024. Indian chess tin get lone amended if much corporates measurement forward. To guarantee that women’s chess keeps its momentum, the chess federation should absorption connected girls, get them trained by Grandmasters, and organise much tournaments for them.