Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali stayed firmly in contention for the title at the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 after holding China’s Tan Zhongyi to a hard-fought draw in the penultimate round on Tuesday.

Vaishali will head into the final round in joint lead, keeping her chances of clinching the top prize intact in what has turned into a tightly contested finish. The Indian had to dig deep after a difficult opening phase, where she was under pressure both on the board and on the clock. By move 25, Tan had built a clear advantage and appeared in control of the position.

However, the momentum shifted on move 26 when Tan made a crucial error, opting for a passive queen move instead of capturing a pawn that was on offer. The lapse allowed Vaishali to stabilise the position. From there, she played with accuracy and composure, gradually neutralising the threats before steering the game towards a draw by threefold repetition on move 34.

While Vaishali ensured she remained at the top, Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva blew the title race wide open with an authoritative win over Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk. Assaubayeva seized the initiative early and maintained control through the middlegame, converting her advantage with precision to join Vaishali on 7.5 points.

Another decisive result came in the clash between China’s Zhu Jiner and Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina. Playing with the white pieces, Zhu suffered a setback as Goryachkina produced a strong performance to secure victory. The loss saw Zhu slip from the top, leaving her half a point behind the joint leaders heading into the final round.

The final day promises a tense finish with multiple players still in contention. Vaishali will take on Kateryna Lagno with the white pieces in Round 14, a match-up that could prove decisive in determining the winner. Assaubayeva faces India’s Divya Deshmukh with black, while Zhu will also play with the black pieces against Muzychuk.

Vaishali and Assaubayeva share the lead on 7.5 points, followed by Zhu on 7. Muzychuk, Lagno and Goryachkina are all on 6.5 points and remain within striking distance if results go their way in the final round.

Round 13 Results (Women):

Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Anna Muzychuk;

Kateryna Lagno beat Divya Deshmukh;

Tan Zhongyi drew with R Vaishali;

Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Zhu Jiner.

Standings after Round 13:

1. R Vaishali 7.5
2. Bibisara Assaubayeva 7.5
3. Zhu Jiner 7
4. Anna Muzychuk 6.5
5. Kateryna Lagno 6.5
6. Aleksandra Goryachkina 6.5
7. Tan Zhongyi 5.5
8. Divya Deshmukh 5

– Ends

Mumbai: The one person Praful Hinge thanked while accepting the player of the match award after his life-changing spell of fast bowling on IPL debut was Naveen Babu, the physio at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai with whom the Nagpur bowler spent six months for rehab after a stress fracture of the back.

A physio is indeed a fast bowler’s best friend. In 2023, forget the IPL stage, Hinge hadn’t even started playing for his state team. He was just an upcoming U23 Vidarbha talent— untapped, raw, and broken physically and mentally due to the back injury. From the high of being picked for the foundation with the prospect of working with Glenn McGrath, Hinge was staring at months of inactivity and rehab.

“Rehabs can be long and boring. Praful was patient and determined. For the first six weeks he had to go back home and rest. After that I had every session planned for him based on his progression with milestones set for each phase,” Babu recalls. “Handing him over to S&C (strength and conditioning) was delayed, his bowling workload charted out with help from our analyst Raja. We delayed his comeback by a month. Once fully fit, he went on to become the highest wicket-taker in U23s and got selected for the Indian Emerging team.”

“Rehab is a team work between the physio, S&C, psychologist, yoga trainer, analyst and the coaches,” said Ramji Srinivasan, former Indian Strength and Conditioning coach who was among the MRF support staff who worked with Hinge.

“Once he had regained enough strength, all we did was fine tune his bowling action,” said M Senthilnathan, MRF head coach. “He was trying to muscle the ball and the body was falling. We ensured he used his non-bowling arm more. This change does not come in a day, it takes overs and overs to achieve.”

What also helped Hinge was getting to work later with Varun Aaron, the ex-India pacer who had a long stint as the academy trainee. Aaron, known for his express pace, was constantly troubled by injuries. Armed with first-hand knowledge sharing from his Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach, Hinge delivered a triple-wicket over—the best first over showing by a pacer in IPL history.

Dhruv Jurel’s dismissal was typical Hinge—line and length bowling with a little bit of movement, like McGrath. But Hinge had executed his plan to bowl a yard shorter to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and hurry him for pace. “He didn’t give any room to Vaibhav,” said Senthilnathan. “That’s exactly what Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried to bowl in the previous match too, but missed his areas.”

On the speed gun, Hinge’s three dismissals were clocked at 139.8 kph (Sooryavanshi), 140.8 kph (Jurel) and 139.3 kph (Lhuan-dre Pretorius). No wonder Hinge’s Insta handle—the following has rocketed from 15,000 to 445,000—is named ‘prafulhinge_140’. Not express pace, but fast enough with his ability to extract seam movement from a good length. Hinge was just the mode of bowler SRH were missing in captain Pat Cummins’ absence.

Alongside Hinge, Monday night also belonged to their other debutant Sakib Hussain (4 wkts) and Sri Lanka’s Eshan Malinga (2). Incidentally, all three pacers have had stints at the MRF academy. Together they lapped up all the 10 RR wickets in Hyderabad on a batter’s paradise on Monday.

In the 1990s and the 2000s, the pace foundation was the sole scientific centre that acted as a feeder line to bolster India’s fast bowling stocks. Two of India’s greatest, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan, took early learnings at the centre under Lillee. But Hinge’s case shows that even today, before fast bowlers make the targeted list and are tended to at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (COE), the Chennai facility serves as a great place to upskill and repair.

Javokhir Sindarov vs Anish Giri (Photo by Niki Riga/FIDE)

NEW DELHI: Javokhir Sindarov delivered a flawless campaign to clinch the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 title on Tuesday, sealing the crown with a round to spare and setting up a blockbuster World Championship clash with D Gukesh later this year.The Uzbek Grandmaster remained unbeaten throughout the tournament at the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort, showcasing remarkable consistency against an elite field. His decisive moment came with a composed draw against Anish Giri, which confirmed his qualification for the World Championship even before the final round.