With this win Praggnanandhaa also added some more spice to the tale around the highest rated Indian as he again overtook Viswanathan Anand in live rating to clinch the top spot in the country.
The FIDE World Cup 2025 is coming to Goa from October 30 to November 27, 2025!
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.
D Gukesh played out a creditable draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana but slipped a rung to the joint second position.
Teen sensation R Praggnanandhaa will enter as the favourite among the three Indian participants in the Candidates chess tournament that will get underway in Toronto from Wednesday to decide the challenger for the next world championship match.
Gukesh, Erigaisi snapped up by PBG Alaskan Knights in GCL draft
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.
Chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa along with his parents meet PM Modi
In the most awaited contest of the tournament, Gukesh took on Praggnanandhaa in the penultimate round.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has charted his own path to glory and is closer to greatness than ever.
Grand Chess Tour: Gukesh in joint lead with Carlsen and Wesley So after day one
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 5-4 via the sudden death tie-break to enter the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament in Baku on Thursday.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of world number three Hikaru Nakamura of United States, while R Praggnanandhaa went down to compatriot D Gukesh in the second round of Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.
Young GM R Praggnanandhaa on Friday won both rapid games to eliminate second-seeded Hikaru Nakamura to enter the last 16 of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament in Baku.
Praggnanandhaa is on his own at the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as his personal coach RB Ramesh is away in another country.
Grandmasters Raunak Sadhwani and S L Narayanan, India's two best hopes, were held to draws by Daniel Barrish of South Africa and Steven Salas Rojas of Peru in the first game of the opening round of World Chess Cup, in Panjim, on Saturday.
Praggnanandhaa blundered for the second day running and lost to Richard Rapport of Romania in the third round
Indian GM Praggnanandhaa wins Super GM chess tourney in Hungary
Chennai's Velammal Vidyalaya, the alma mater of the youngest reigning World champion D Gukesh and Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, won the gold medal at the World Schools Team Chess Championship in Virginia, United States.
R Praggnanandhaa was the best Indian with an overall third place finish
Another game to end through repetition of moves was between Gukesh and Gujrathi.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is still third on 9.5 points in the Norway Chess tournament.
Gujrathi and Erigaisi will represent India in the men's individual event while Koneru Humpy and D Harika will do so in the women's section.
Looking to assert his supremacy across formats, reigning world champion D Gukesh of India began his campaign in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with a crushing victory over France's Etienne Bacrot in the first round.
The trophy was unveiled during a colourful opening ceremony which was attended by Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and FIDE chief Arkady Dvorkovich.
The 17-year-old Gukesh is in joint lead with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa wrote a golden chapter in Indian chess history by becoming only the second player from the country after Viswanathan Anand -- and the youngest -- to play in the FIDE World Cup final.
The Indian challenge in the women's section might already have ended as Zhongyi stood firmly ahead on five points while Goryachkina had 4.5 points in her kitty.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was accorded a rousing reception upon his arrival at the airport in Chennai on Wednesday.
The conclusive champion of this tournament is set to be determined on Thursday.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi scored crushing victories, while D Gukesh held on to the joint top spot with a draw in a brilliant sixth-round outing for the Indian men's team at the Candidates Chess Tournament in Toronto.
Praggnanandhaa, who has reached the summit clash featuring legendary five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, had none other than the iconic Gary Kasparov, acknowledging the Indian GM's mother's role
Neither current World Champion D Gukesh nor former world champion Vishy Anand are the top rated Indian chess player.
Hungary will officially host the 45th edition of the Olympiad for the first time, having hosted the second unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went down to World No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE Chess World Cup final, in Baku, on Thursday.
The difference in rating does not count much but going by form and records, India's numero uno player R Praggnanandhaa will start as one of the favourites in the third edition of Grand Chess Tour rapid and blitz tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, starting on Wednesday.
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.
Rameshbabu is no expert of the complex patterns of chess that his son R Praggnanandhaa has mastered so deeply. He is just an understanding father who is happy to work as a supporting force to the whiz kid.
'It was 2 am, my parents were asleep. I woke my dad up and said: 'I won'.' 'He said, 'Good' and then went back to sleep because he had to go to office the next day.'
