Samarkand: Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali says the FIDE Grand Swiss title triumph here has come at a crucial juncture for her after having endured a year that was "not going" well despite her persistent effort to improve.
Vaishali became the first player to win the elite event in the women's section for a second consecutive time and besides a good prize cheque of $40,000, Vaishali also earned herself a spot in the next year's Candidates Tournament.
"It's hard to choose," Vaishali said when asked to compare her 2023 victory in the same event with the recent triumph.
"In 2023, the Grand Swiss victory came at the very right moment, I hadn't played well for a long time, a lot of things fell into place," she explained.
"Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial," she noted.
Vaishali became the third Indian to make the cut for the Candidates apart from Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy. It will select the challenger for the next women's World Championship clash against Wenjun Ju.