Candidates chess: Vaishali extends her lead to one point

R. Vaishali maintained her sole lead in the Women’s Candidates chess tournament by scoring a crucial win over Aleksandra Goryachkina in the 11th round at Pegeia, Cyprus, on Saturday. The victory took her tally to seven points, with just three rounds remaining.

Fellow-Indian Divya Deshmukh did Vaishali a favour by holding her strongest rival Zhu Jiner to a draw. The top seed from China now has six points and is sharing the second spot with Anna Muzychuk as the Chennai Grandmaster increased her lead to one point.