With Vantika's hard-earned victory there are still five Indians left in the last 32 stage of this US$691,250 prize money event with an additional bonus of making it to the Women's candidates' tournament slated in 2026 for the top three finishers.
Koneru Humpy was held to a third successive draw in the Kaupthing Open International Chess Tournament in Luxembourg.
Reigning World champion Dommaraju Gukesh's roller-coaster ride continues. The Indian Grandmaster suffered defeat in an Armageddon tie-break and slipped to tied-fifth place, while Arjun Erigaisi upset American world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura to maintain fourth position in the Norway Chess tournament.
International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Top seed Koneru Humpy could not get the better of Shen Yang's defence and settled for her second draw on the trot to slip to the joint third place after four rounds in the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess tournament now in progress in Istanbul.
Divya Deshmukh not only became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, she also instantly secured the prestigious Grandmaster title.
Grandmasters K Sasikiran and Koneru Humpy gave India a resounding start on the first day of the 15th Asian Games.
The top seed needs just a victory tomorrow against Kruttika Nadig of Maharashtra to clinch the Nat. A women's chess title.\n\n
India's former World Rapid Chess Champion Koneru Humpy highlighted the need to organise more chess events for women in the country to ensure a greater pool of players.
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen clinched his seventh Norway Chess title after American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana did a good turn by defeating D Gukesh.
Vaishali, sister of the Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, scored impressive victories over Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Russia's Valentina Gunina on the opening day of the Blitz championship.
Dronavalli Harika and Koneru Humpy came up with fine individual performances to win a silver and a bronze, respectively.
'Right now, I'm happy with the game that I played today. Tomorrow (Friday), hopefully, another good game I can play. And whatever the result will be, we'll see later. But yeah, just focusing on playing the game.'
Top seeded Grandmaster Koneru tried her best but could not breach Zhao Xue's defence and drew a tense game to remain joint third after the ninth round of the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess event in Istanbul.
Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh has revealed that navigating the pressure in a long, gruelling tournament like the FIDE Women's World Cup title was "quite stressful" but she was determined to go all the way after the tough matches in the lead-up to the title clash against Koneru Humpy in Batumi, Georgia, recently.
In the women's event, Koneru Humpy and D Harika posted wins in the fifth round after a below par showing on the second day of the competition on Monday.
Praggnanandhaa takes on a strong field at Grand Swiss, eyes Candidates berth
WGM Zhao Xue of China emerged sole leader after the seventh round in the World junior chess championships.
Another game to end through repetition of moves was between Gukesh and Gujrathi.
Koneru Humpy's non-participation in the event has not hampered the team's chances much as Vaishali has jumped significantly in rankings and is a force to reckon with in the women's circle.
World champion D Gukesh climbed to a career-high No 3 ranking, while compatriot R Praggnanandhaa broke back into the top 10 in the latest FIDE classical ratings released on Saturday.
Gukesh follows in the footsteps of Anand, the only other Indian to win the Candidates
Reigning World champion D Gukesh finally got his revenge on Magnus Carlsen as he pounced on a blunder by the World No 1 to defeat him for the first time in a classical game.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa lost to World Champion Ding Liren in the Armageddon tie-breaker after the two played out a draw under normal time control in the second round.
Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after round 7 of the Norway Chess.
'Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial.'
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored a massive, hard-earned victory over world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States and made his way to the top 10 of world rankings after the end of fifth round of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
Russians Volodar Murzin and Alexander Grischuk, along with Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland, share the lead with Arjun on seven points after the end of the second day and Round 9 of the championship, which will decide the best player of the planet after 13 games.
Neither current World Champion D Gukesh nor former world champion Vishy Anand are the top rated Indian chess player.
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.
Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, who has also qualified for the Women's Candidates, has opted out of the women's section to compete with the best in business.
Uzbekistan's young grandmaster Abdusattorov Nodirbek emerged sole leader in the open section of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid tournament in Kolkata on Wednesday.
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.
Led by Viswanathan Anand, the Ganges Grandmasters outclassed upGrad Mumba Masters 12-4 on the final day of the Global Chess League, avoiding a last-place finish as the tournament heads into the finals.
Praggnanandhaa did not have to sweat hard to hold Caruana under Classical but in the Armageddon the American was a transformed player as he took advantage of his white pieces.
Former World Rapid Chess champion Koneru Humpy wants the All India Chess Federation to increase women's tournaments.
Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control.
Here are the Indian Super Moms' at the Hangzhou Asian Games beginning on September 23.
