Reigning classical World champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen were among the leaders after the first five rounds on the opening day of the FIDE World Rapid Championships in Doha on Thursday.
Grandmaster Nihal Sarin played out a quick and effortless draw with Matthias Bluebaum of Germany to share the lead with the German on six points after the end of the eighth round of FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Friday.
Vaishali knew she had to win to remain in contention and her approach right from the start was in sync with the requirement of the tournament situation.
Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin's hopes of making to the Candidates tournament suffered a setback as he lost to Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
World Champion D Gukesh suffered his second straight defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss, losing to Greece's Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
World Champion D Gukesh went down to world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the US in the fifth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss.
While Vantika, Harika and Vaishali have an uphill task in the first set of tie-break games, they can still make it to the round of 16.
R Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by the world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the United States.
Grandmaster Vantika Agrawal outclassed Lela Shohradeva of Turkmenistan in the return game of the first round to progress to the round of 64 of FIDE World Women's Chess Cup.
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
Anna Ushenina of Ukraine claimed the women's World Championship crown, defeating Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first set of tie-break games in Khanty Mansiysk.
Grandmaster D Harika bowed out of the world championship after playing a draw in must-win second game with former Bulgarian world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the semifinals, which she lost 0.5-1.5 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
Grandmaster D Harika's title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semi-final at World Women's chess championship in Khanty, Mansiysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well in the first game and went down rather easily.
Top seed Grandmaster Koneru Humpy scored a thumping victory over former World champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and was helped by other results to come back in the joint-lead at the end of the 10th round of the IS Bank Atatyurk Women's Grand Prix chess in Istanbul on Thursday. The Indian ace joined Zhao and Yifan in the lead on 7.5 points out of a possible 10.
After the first game against the same opponent ended in a draw, Harika was with black pieces in the second and she employed a French defence and Kosteniuk did not have many answers.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia in the second game to push the match into tie-breaker.
The World junior champ drew with top seed Sokolov in the fifth and penultimate round of the Essent International Chess tournament.
The Indian world junior champion maintained a full point lead after drawing with Emil Sutovsky of Israel in the fourth round of the Essent chess tournament.
Harikrishna outwitted top seed Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands in the third round of the Crown Group of Essent International chess tournament.
The Indian world junior champion beat Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the second round of the Crown group of Essent chess tournament.
The Bulgarian drew the third game of the final match against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia to lift the World Women's Chess Championship.
The Bulgarian GM won the first game of the women's World Chess Championship final against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia.
The Indian needs just a draw in the second game against Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia to qualify for the semis.
Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli came out strongly yet again in the rapid tie-breaker as she outclassed Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia to enter the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship for the third time in a row.
Grandmaster D Harika missed out on some chances to settle for a draw with Georgia's Sopiko Guramishvili, while Padmini Rout survived a scare before enforcing a draw with China's Tan Zhongyi in the first game of the third round of World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
Harika had carried the Indian hopes nicely till the tie-breaker of the third round. However, she got a jolt in the first game of the rapid tie-break where both players had 25 minutes on their clock.
Grandmaster and former national champion B Adhiban crashed through the defences of former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria to remain in joint lead in the Masters section of Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival.
Continuing his dream run, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta held higher-ranked compatriot Pentala Harikrishna to a draw, while Viswanathan Anand kept himself in contention with an easy victory, in the sixth round of the masters section of the Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival in Gibraltar, on Monday.
Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli had to settle for the bronze medal after a heartbreaking defeat against Tan Zhongyi of China via the tie-breaker in the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
Back in chess just before the Olympiad after a nearly two-year hiatus, Humpy, who has been among the top women players for a long time, will now have to wait for another two years to have a go at the next world championship cycle.
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