R Vaishali admits error after Zhu Jiner ends her sole Women's Candidates lead: '‘I misplayed in...'

R Vaishali admitted that Chinese Grandmaster Zhu Jiner stunned her with her early unconventional moves as the Indian Grandmaster squandered the sole lead in the ongoing Fide Women's Candidates 2026 on Sunday. Zhu Jiner won on demand with Black pieces to join the Indian chess star at the top of the standings, with just two more rounds to go.

Vaishali led the Women's Candidates 2026 by a full one point and three games remaining, but suffered a crushing loss to the highest rated player of the tournament, Jiner, in 39 moves after some poor time management. In a Caro-Kann Defense match, Vaishali squandered around 25 minutes before finding an inaccurate 13. dxc5?! move when Be7 was the best pick.

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Vaishali loses under time pressure

Later, due to time trouble, the Chennai player committed a blunder by playing 36.Nc1 rather than opting for Qh5 as she was forced to resign three moves later.

Zhu Jiner and Vaishali are ow both tied at the top with seven points each, while Anna Muzychuk and Bibisara Assaubayeva are trailing the leaders by just .5 point.

How Jiner defeated Vaishali

In the press conference, Vaishali was candid as she admitted making a blunder under the time pressure.

"It was an interesting game. I think I misplayed in time trouble," Vaishali said.

On losing time early on, Vaishali said, "It's not every day you see the structure. 5.cxd3 is a completely new structure and I was trying to understand where to put the pieces."

Jiner, on the other hand, was more upbeat after making a comeback in the tournament as she spoke about the need to take more risks in a do-or-die game.

"I think I had to play for a win today," Jiner said. "Because if I had made a draw, it would have been very hard to win the tournament. I had to play to win. I took more risks in this game."

Vaishali faces former world champion Tan Zhongyi in the next round with Black pieces, while Jiner will have the White pieces against Aleksandra Goryachkina.