R Vaishali's sole lead in the Women's Candidates tournament has slipped after a defeat in Round 12, allowing Zhu Jiner to catch up and share the lead.
Zhu, the world No.2, stuck to her plan of playing for a win and cleverly navigated Vaishali's off-beat opening idea in the Caro-Kann.
With the defeat, Vaishali gave up her sole lead, allowing Zhu to catch up with her for a shared lead.
Playing with the White pieces, Vaishali unleashed a fairly unusual opening idea, but it didn't come as a total surprise for Zhu, who had seen a similar position in her preparation files.
White seemed to gain control in the centre with a nice space advantage but it wasn't without creating some weak light squares.
Vaishali's struggle with managing her time returned and she was forced to make critical decisions with seconds on her clock.
She made a critical mistake with 36.Nc1 and Zhu pushed her pawn to h3, activating multiple attacks with both the Black queen and knight ready to spring into action.
