Overview

• Vaishali finished level on points with Kateryna Lagno, and the ARO tie-break decided it 2434–2433 after she drew the final round with former world champion Tan Zhongyi.
• The victory confirmed her place in the 2026 Women’s Candidates, where she joins fellow Indians Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh.
• A brutal run in Chennai — seven straight losses and about a 20-point rating fall — indirectly aided her tie-break by lowering opponents’ AROs, according to tournament coverage.
• The women’s $40,000 winner’s prize will be split with Lagno under Grand Swiss rules, in a year when FIDE lifted the women’s fund to $230,000 and the open fund to $625,000.
• Anish Giri won the open section with 8/11 to earn $90,000, while Vaishali marked her win by inviting her mother on stage to receive the trophy and later drew a welcome-home post from Viswanathan Anand.