Kolkata, Aug 29 (PTI) WGM R Vaishali, who is the elder sister of Indian’s latest chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa, was on Tuesday ruled out of the upcoming Tata Steel Chess India championship slated to be held here from Thursday.
Vaishali, who played a key role in the rise of Praggnanandhaa to become the youngest World Cup runner-up at 18 years, will be replaced by WGM Divya Deshmukh, a former national champion and member of the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad team in 2020.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Vaishali R won’t be able to participate, but we’re excited to welcome Divya Deshmukh to the tournament! Let’s cheer for Divya,” the organisers stated.
Vaishali was initially named in the star-studded women’s lineup that boasts the reigning World champion Wenjun Ju of China.
There is however no change to the women’s field that also includes Anna Ushenina of Ukraine, the winner of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid 2022 and Irina Krush, the only American Women GM.
The Indian lineup has Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Savitha Shri and Vantika Agarwal.
The Open category which will begin on September 4 will be headlined by Praggnanandhaa who will be joiined by the trio of D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, and Arjun Erigaisi fresh from their World Cup quarters appearances.
The overseas participants in the open field will have Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, (World Blitz Champion 2021), Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Teymour Radjabov of Azerbaijan (World Cup Winner 2019), Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan (World Rapid Champion 2021) and Vincent Keymer of Germany (runner-up at World Rapid Championship).
Source: PTI News
