Indian Grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu went down to Alexandra Kosteniuk in the seventh round of the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Grosslobming, Austria on Tuesday.
Vaishali, playing with the black pieces, resigned from the match after 32 moves.
Opting for the Nimzo-Indian defence, Vaishali seemed to have got to a good start in the opening moves, negating the slight advantage white usually has.
However, the Indian miscalculated in the middlegame and pushed her pawn on the c file one step too far on the 23rd move, looking for a positional sacrifice.
The move, instead, handed Kosteniuk an advantage and she grabbed it with both hands. At the end of exchanges which followed, Vaishali failed to get any compensation for the pawn she had let go.
With a position which engines deemed completely lost, Vaishali did not bother to push further and tendered her resignation.
This marked Vaishali’s second loss in the tournament, having previously lost to China’s Zhu Jiner in the fifth round.
The Indian has four points in seven rounds, having won three, drawn two, and lost two games in the competition.
Vaishali is currently placed fourth in the standings behind GM Tan Zhongyi (4.5), GM Zhu Jiner and GM Anna Muzychuk – both of whom are in joint lead with five points.