All posts tagged: Vaishali vs Ju Wenjun

‘Need to improve quite a bit’

‘Need to improve quite a bit’

Published by Webster

3 min readMay 16, 2026 11:40 PM IST The strongest woman ever to play chess, Judit Polgar, has given her verdict on who she feels will win the upcoming Women’s World Chess Championship. The legendary Hungarian has placed her bets on the defending and five-time World Champion, China’s Ju Wenjun, to successfully defend her crown for a record sixth time against India’s R Vaishali. Polgar said Ju will be a very big challenge for Vaishali, and the Indian would need to significantly improve her game in order to be ready for the high-stakes event. “Well, it’s a very tough match and very interesting. Ju Wenjun already has experience playing in World Championship matches. She’s very tough, very much ready for long games, and the big experience is something that matters a lot,” she told FIDE, the international chess federation. “For Vaishali, it will be a very big challenge, and I think she will have to improve quite a bit to be ready for the World Championship match. Well, let’s see if experience will win or …

Gukesh: ‘Always amazed at the character Vaishali akka shows at events’ | Chess News

Gukesh: ‘Always amazed at the character Vaishali akka shows at events’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readMay 1, 2026 08:18 AM IST World champion D Gukesh had praised the character of Vaishali Rameshbabu, who earlier this month, won the Women’s Candidates tournament and will also fight for the Women’s World Championship. This means that while Gukesh defends his crown against Javokhir Sindarov, Vaishali will try to topple Ju Wenjun. Gukesh experienced a rollercoaster of emotions at the previous Candidates tournament in Toronto where he won despite being a first-timer. Vaishali was also playing in her first Candidates that year, and after losing four games in a row, bounced back by winning her last five games on the trot, which almost got her the title. Two years later, in Cyprus, Vaishali managed to survive her own rollercoaster journey to secure the title. Vaishali thus became only the second woman from India to earn a shot at the Women’s World Chess Championship after Koneru Humpy. “I was following her match in the last round of the Candidates. The open section was already done, so I was following Vaishali akka’s game. I …