WR Women's Chess Tour Standings: Vaishali and Lagno Tied at the Top as Circuit Heads to Africa

The race for the inaugural WR Women's Chess Tour championship is officially underway, and the leaderboard is deadlocked at the top. Following the conclusion of the Asia Leg in Tokyo, India's Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno share the number one spot, each sitting on 15 circuit points.[1]

The new global knockout circuit represents a massive structural shift in the women's chess calendar. Featuring five legs across four continents and a total prize fund of $200,000, the tour was designed to inject a fresh wave of high-stakes speed chess into the ecosystem.[3]

Unlike traditional round-robin tournaments, the WR Women's Chess Tour utilizes an unforgiving eight-player single-elimination format. This ensures that every rapid and blitz match heavily impacts the overall standings, leaving no room for slow starts or conservative play.

In Tokyo, the circuit points were split between two dominant, yet distinct, performances. Vaishali, who is already having a career-defining year after winning the FIDE Candidates Tournament, captured the Rapid event with a display of tactical precision.

En route to her Rapid title, Vaishali defeated Indonesian International Master Irine Kharisma Sukandar and Swiss Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk. She then overcame Kazakh teenager Alua Nurman 1.5–0.5 in the Rapid final, proving her form ahead of her upcoming World Championship match.

Lagno, meanwhile, exacted her revenge in the Blitz portion of the Tokyo event. After falling short in the Rapid semifinals, she stormed through the Blitz bracket with trademark speed and resilience.

The Blitz final culminated in a tense Armageddon tiebreaker against Kosteniuk. Lagno navigated the time scramble flawlessly to secure the Blitz title, effectively equalizing the overall points race at the top of the leaderboard.

The tour's scoring system heavily rewards section winners, creating massive swings in the standings. Vaishali earned 10 points for her Rapid victory and 5 for her Blitz performance, while Lagno mirrored those exact numbers in reverse.[1]

Right behind the co-leaders is former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who sits in clear third with 13 points. Kosteniuk's consistency—reaching the semifinals in Rapid and the finals in Blitz—keeps her well within striking distance of the top spot.[1]

The breakout star of the leaderboard is undoubtedly 17-year-old Alua Nurman. The Kazakh International Master surged into fourth place with 10 points after her stunning run to the Rapid finals.[1]

Nurman's performance is exactly what organizers hoped the tour would produce: a platform where rising talents can immediately challenge and upset established grandmasters without spending years climbing traditional rating ladders.[3]

The current standings round out with Irine Kharisma Sukandar in fifth place with 7 points. She is followed by a three-way tie for sixth between Anna Sargsyan of the United States, Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria, and Azumi Sakai of Japan, who each hold 4 points.[1]

The focus of the chess world now shifts to the Africa Leg, scheduled for August 20–23 in Maputo, Mozambique. With a $40,000 prize fund on the line, the Maputo event will introduce a new mix of competitors to the circuit.

The African leg will feature invited local talents, including Lina Nassr and Shahenda Wafa, who will have the opportunity to test their speed chess skills against international stars looking to climb the global leaderboard.

The stakes for the remainder of the 2026 season are incredibly high. Only the top performers across all five global legs will earn a ticket to the Grand Final in Germany later this year.

With Vaishali and Lagno currently setting the pace, the margin for error in Maputo will be razor-thin. Every match in Mozambique will carry massive implications for the final standings, ensuring that the race for the inaugural WR Women's Chess Tour title goes down to the wire.[3]