All posts tagged: Kateryna Lagno

How Vaishali petted the ‘Dragon’ unleashed by Kateryna Lagno, like Khaleesi would, in Game Of Thrones | Chess News

How Vaishali petted the ‘Dragon’ unleashed by Kateryna Lagno, like Khaleesi would, in Game Of Thrones | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 16, 2026 04:22 PM IST Vaishali Rameshbabu kept a straight, sanguine face even as she watched Russian GM Kateryna Lagno walk right into the treacherous path, for which the Indian champion had paved her defense meticulously. Having to break the tie with Bibisara Assaubayeva, Vaishali had to literally tame the ‘dragon’ played by the Russian in the final round. The Sicilian Dragon is usually a last throw of the dice in must-win situations, an aggressive opening defense for black, where bishop on g7 exerting pressure on White’s queenside and centre.. Chess.com sequences it as 1. e4 c52. N f3 d63. d4 cxd44. Nxd4 N f65. N c3 g6. It is described by chess.com as, “Black fianchettoes their dark squared bishop to g7, creating intense pressure along the long diagonal and creating a ‘dragon-like’ structure. Speaking to Lichess, Vaishali agreed that the sequence of moves she watched Lagno play in the opening, walked her straight into Vaishali’s preparation with a half baked bishop e6. The move, Lichess noted from going back to their …

R Vaishali, Bibisara Assaubayeva set up final-round photo finish in Women’s Candidates

R Vaishali, Bibisara Assaubayeva set up final-round photo finish in Women’s Candidates

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 15, 2026 12:32 AM IST India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu will head into the final round of the Women’s Candidates tournament on Wednesday in joint lead with Kazakh grandmaster Bibisara Assaubayeva on a dramatic day in Cyprus. Both players have a score of 7.5 points heading into the final round, to set up an exciting photo finish. Half a point behind them is the Chinese phenom Zhu Jiner. Vaishali was held to a draw by the former women’s world champion from China, Tan Zhongyi. When she walked out of the playing hall on Tuesday, she would have felt like her chance to secure a shot at winning the Women’s Candidates was more or less over since her competitor for the top spot, Zhu Jiner, was in a winning position against Aleksandra Goryachkina. But under pressure of converting the game, Zhu crumbled, thus handing the 24-year-old Vaishali another lifeline to secure a battle in the Women’s World Chess Championship against Ju Wenjun. The 22-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva also snuck into the joint lead after defeating Anna …

Candidates 2026: R Praggnanandhaa goes down to Javokhir Sindarov in latest installment of India-Uzbekistan chess rivalry | Chess News

Candidates 2026: R Praggnanandhaa goes down to Javokhir Sindarov in latest installment of India-Uzbekistan chess rivalry | Chess News

Published by Webster

It was never meant to be just about two individuals when R Praggnanandhaa and Javokhir Sindarov sat down across the board in the third round of the 2026 Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Their duel was the latest installment of the India-Uzbekistan rivalry that has come to define a new era in chess, and this time it was Sindarov who emerged victorious, handing Pragg a painful loss. The two nations have spent the better part of half a decade establishing themselves as the rising powerhouses in the game. Their young talents keep clashing at every major event. At the last two Olympiads, it was Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs D Gukesh. In the Candidates, it’s Praggnanandhaa and Sindarov. The foundation of the dynamic was laid two decades ago by two former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Their rivalry ignited in the early 2000s. Anand beat Kasimdzhanov to claim the 2002 World Cup in Hyderabad. The Uzbek returned the favour at the 2005 World Championship before Anand packed another punch. Then, in that very same year, Kasimdzhanov …

Why Aleksandra Goryachkina, who prioritized humanities over Maths, is Russia’s big hope to reclaim world title | Chess News

Why Aleksandra Goryachkina, who prioritized humanities over Maths, is Russia’s big hope to reclaim world title | Chess News

Published by Webster

As Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina line up for the Candidates 2026 in the women’s section, they will attempt to reclaim the crown a Russian last win in 2008-10 through Alexandra Kosteniuk. Two Ukrainians and three Chinese have taken the world title cycles since then, including Hou Yifan thrice. Vladimir Kramnik was the last Russian in open events to win twenty years ago in 2006-7. Aleksandra Goryachkina however is the world Rapid champion from 2025. Goryachkina had just about started liking chess at that point, but the 2019 Candidates winner has not managed to get the breakthrough that the old powerhouse restlessly desires, going down to Ju Wenjun. Sasha’s mother Larisa Matvienko had told Krasny Sever back then that the family’s move to Karpov’s Polar Chess academy had been strongly driven by the country’s keen to turn one of its prodigies into a world beater. Goryachkina was born into a chess family – her mother, a candidate master of sports, her father a FIDE master who coached at chess school. “Sasha enjoyed dancing at the …

Humpy trails topper Lagno after Round 5

Humpy trails topper Lagno after Round 5

Published by Webster

Koneru Humpy remained in the second spot after the end of the fifth round in the Monaco Women’s Grand Prix on Saturday. Humpy played out her third draw in a row as she and China’s Zhongyi Tai shared 0.5 points each. Indian grandmaster now has three points to her credit, half a point behind table topper Kateryna Lagno of Russia. The other Indian grandmaster in the fray is Harika Dronavalli, who ceased her losing streak in the third round by claiming a draw against Lagno. She remained at the bottom of the tournament following yet another draw against Aleksandra Goryachkina. Harika now has 1.5 points after three consecutive draws. ✨♟ Kateryna Lagno maintains her sole lead at the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Monaco after Round 5. All games of the day ended in draws. pic.twitter.com/TxUuuoairJ — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) February 22, 2025 Lagno held on to her lead after she was forced to play a draw by Batkhuyag Munguntuul as no player could be separated in the fifth round. …

Carlsen, Lagno claim Blitz titles at Tata Steel Chess India 2024

Carlsen, Lagno claim Blitz titles at Tata Steel Chess India 2024

Published by Webster

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and three-time Women’s World Blitz Champion Kateryna Lagno claimed the Blitz titles at the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2024, held at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, Kolkata. For Carlsen, this victory marked a remarkable double, as he also secured the Rapid title earlier on Friday. Carlsen started the second half of the Blitz event with a narrow half-point lead. Despite holding steady with five consecutive draws against Praggnanandhaa, Wesley So, Abdusattorov Nodirbek, Vincent Keymer, and Nihal Sarin, the Norwegian star maintained his position at the top. An opportunity emerged for Arjun Erigaisi to overtake Carlsen, but Arjun faltered in the final rounds, losing three consecutive games. This sealed the title for Carlsen even before the last round. Wesley So claimed the runner-up position, while Arjun Erigaisi completed the podium in third place, showcasing promising performances throughout the Blitz segment. In the Women’s section, Kateryna Lagno dominated with an impressive 11.5 points to emerge as the champion. Valentina Gunina and Aleksandra Goryachkina took the first and second runner-up spots, …

Global Chess League: How Magnus Carlsen blundered against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to lose with white | Chess News

Global Chess League: How Magnus Carlsen blundered against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to lose with white | Chess News

Published by Webster

Magnus Carlsen sat on his seat looking up in the sky, muttering away. He could not believe what he had just done. It was a blunder from the five-time world champion which was unexpected and uncharacteristic in equal measure. It took a while to sink in for the Norwegian. But finally, Carlsen threw in the towel against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and exited the playing hall in a huff. What made matters worse was that his team, the Alpine SG Pipers, lost 5-14 to the upGrad Mumba Masters with defeats for Richard Rapport and Daniel Dardha. Rapport, in fact, allowed Pragg’s coach Peter Svidler — who had not experienced a win in his six games at the second edition of the Global Chess League — his first victory after two defeats and four draws. Only Praggnanandhaa managed a victory for the Pipers’, beating Vidit Gujrathi, his senior teammate from the Indian gold medal-winning Chess Olympiad team. The rest of the games in the clash — Hou Yifan vs Koneru Humpy and Kateryna Lagno vs Harika Dronavalli — …