R Vaishali to be only Indian player in first leg of Women's Grand Prix in Georgia

R Vaishali is set to be the only Indian player in the opening leg of the Women's Grand Prix slated to take place in Tbilisi, Georgia. The chess sensation, who has just turned 23, became India's 84th Grand Master in May 2024. She will partake in this elite competition with morale uplifted by a fourth-place finish at the Norway Chess tournament lately.

The Women's Grand Prix's first leg will be a 10-player round-robin tournament, including a decisive lineup of former world champions. To list a few are Alexandra Kosteniuk and Mariya Muzychuk.

Among the other competitors are Alina Kashlinskaya, Lela Javakhishvili, Anna Muzychuk, Nana Dzagnidze, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Bibisara Assaubayeva, and Stavroula Tsolakidou.

It is pertinent to mention that all these events of the Women's Grand Prix will be under action from the 14th to the 25th of August at the Biltmore Tbilisi Hotel, Georgia's first glass tower, and the Caucasus's highest hotel.

According to the rules, the time duration of the event is set to 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, adding half an hour for the remaining encounter and a 30-second increment per move from the beginning.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola, who is the Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, expressed that Georgia was an apt starting point for the series. She was quoted as saying by FIDE:

“We are looking forward to the first tournament in the new season of the Women’s Grand Prix. We think that Georgia is a wonderful starting point given the impact Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze – two former women’s world champions who are Georgian natives – had on the chess world.”

She added:

“As we will have more tournaments and more players in the 2024-2025 season, this means more opportunities to increase the visibility of Women’s Chess and help get more women interested in the sport.”

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Women's Grand Prix to be extended to 20 players and six tournaments this season

The Women's Grand Prix has been a prominent competition for women's chess that kicked off 15 years ago. This season, it will be extended to 20 players and six tournaments. A surplus increase in total prize money is also on the cards.

Joining the roster of 20 players in the later stages of the Grand Prix are Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli. Moreover, Iranian WGM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh has replaced Women's World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, who opted out of the series.

It must be noted that the nine-player round-robin event will see action with top women chess players from around the globe aspiring to develop women's chess and encouraging more women to take up the sport.