India, April 16 -- Vaishali Rameshbabu's eyes widened as they darted across the board, running triple checks, taking deep breaths, and perhaps feeling her heart pounding in her ears. With under a minute on her clock, she had to find a sequence of killer blows to win the Women's Candidates tournament, make the Women's World Championship and find a place in history.

In close to 100 years, only one Indian female player - Koneru Humpy - had qualified for the title match. The 24-year-old Indian made no mistake, playing the winning idea 39.Rd8! 39. Kh7 40. c4! with precision, against Kateryna Lagno in the final round game, to carve her name as the second female Indian player to fight for chess' biggest prize.

"I'm very happy and speechless.Th...