My comeback at Candidates took me by surprise: Vaishali

She had given up after four losses in a row but decided to fight back and “play good games”, pulling off five straight wins

BENGALURU: Vaishali Rameshbabu had one of the most remarkable comebacks in the Candidates in recent memory. The 22-year-old went from four straight losses and being placed at the bottom of the eight-player standings (2.5/9) to five straight wins, finishing tied second (7.5/14; fourth place on tiebreaks). She ended the tournament with six wins, the highest overall, ahead of world No.3 Hikaru Nakamura in the Open section with five wins.

“Usually after one or two losses my tournament ends,” Vaishali told HT. “The way it (comeback) happened was completely new for me and took me by surprise.”

Emotionally, it was a tough tournament for her to ride out. “After three losses in a row, I completely gave up. That’s when the fourth loss happened. It was really painful. To get into bad positions after 15 moves and lose the way I did was embarrassing. After the fourth consecutive loss (vs Tan Zhongyi), I felt I shouldn’t be playing chess like this on such a big stage. I told myself that top players (from the Open section) were coming over and looking at my games and I shouldn’t be playing so poorly. I somehow wanted to get back in shape and fight. Sandipan (Chanda, her trainer) was also trying all he could. I was detercandidates, mined to play good games. Thankfully, I was able to play true to my strength over the next few rounds. Just when I found my momentum, the tournament ended,” she laughed.

Her win over fellow Candidates first-timer Nurgyul Salimova in Round 10 proved to be the breakthrough. The Bulgarian was on her way to a win with White before self-destructing. She refused a draw in an equal position and lost the endgame. It was a bit of a lucky break for Vaishali, just the one she needed perhaps to end the run of losses.

“In such tournaments, I suppose luck plays an important role. It’s not entirely about how you well you prepare or play…going into the tournament I knew I wasn’t a favourite by rating. But I’d beaten most of the players in the field in different tournaments and I believed that if I played well I had a chance to win the event. After the first couple of losses, it was upsetting that I couldn’t recover right away. I’d even stopped checking the standings.”

She received a text message from her mentor RB Ramesh during the string of losses. “He told me to just go out and play the best I can and forget about results.”

Vaishali calls her Round 11 win against top seed Aleksandra

Goryachkina among the most satisfying. It was her first win against the Russian in classical chess. Vaishali played the Alapin Sicilian creditably and went on to win with a Knight underpromotion.

“I could have settled for a draw but I was looking to take every chance that came my way. I’m pretty proud of that game…because of my earlier round results, all the other players saw me as a target I suppose. They perhaps assumed they could just come and beat me. The games turned out to be fighting contests and that helped me find winning opportunities.”

After winning the Women’s Tan said she didn’t have many expectations from the tournament since coaching, not competitive chess, was her priority. “It was a complete shock for me,” said Vaishali, “How can someone play like this when it’s not a priority? I suppose it comes back to enjoying the game and not worrying about results.”

Even when she was suffering emotionally from the losses, Vaishali said she chose not to lay it on her brother, Praggnanandhaa. They became the first brother-sister pair ever to play the Candidates. When she was last in the standings after nine rounds, her brother was placed third in the Open.

“We would discuss our games but I didn’t want to burden him with my emotions. During the games, after I made moves, I’d check other boards, including Pragg’s on the screen in the playing hall. The floor was making sounds so I didn’t walk around too much.”

On the final day of play, Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa chose not to head back to their hotel after their games like every other day. “Pretty much everyone had their eyes on those two boards (Gukesh vs Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana vs Ian Nepomniachtchi). We could feel the pressure and tension even though it wasn’t us playing. I felt happy to see Gukesh make it in the end.”

Over three weeks, Vaishali lived through a roller-coaster of a tournament, her game dipping and rising. She came away with a comeback story to tell. “When I was fighting for norms (GM) I would normally give up after a few losses. But now I understand it helps to hang in there...i may not have won the tournament, but those last few wins certainly made a huge difference.”