IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and GM Kateryna Lagno have withdrawn from the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix India due to personal reasons. In accordance with WGP regulations, they will be replaced by IMs Alina Kashlinskaya and Polina Shuvalova, respectively, who are now set to compete in the fifth leg of the series.
Alina Kashlinskaya (pictured below), born on October 28, 1993, is a prominent figure in the world of women’s chess. She has won multiple national and European Women’s Individual Championship medals. Earlier in her career, she won silver at the 2003 Under-10 European Girls Youth Chess Championship and the 2011 Under-18 World Girls Youth Chess Championship before winning the Russian Junior Girls Championship in 2013.
In 2022, Alina made the significant decision to switch federations and represent Poland. This move marked a new chapter in her chess career, and she quickly integrated into the Polish chess community. In the same year, she participated in the 44th Chess Olympiad as a member of the Polish women’s team, contributing to their sixth-place finish.
In May 2024, she became the National Polish Women’s Champion and played on the first board for the national team at the 45th Chess Olympiad.
In August 2024, Alina emerged as the winner of the first leg of WGP 2024–2025 series in Tbilisi, earning 130 points. She currently ranks seventh in the overall standings.
Born in Orsk in 2021, Polina Shuvalova (pictured above) was a dominant force at junior events, where she achieved the unprecedented feature of winning three consecutive gold medals in the higher age group categories. After getting Silver and Bronze in the U-16 category in 2016 and 2017, she finally became World Champion in the World Girl’s U18 Championship 2018.
The best was yet to come, though: the next year, Polina won the 2019 World Under 18 Girls’ Championship in Mumbai with a score of 8.5/11, and shortly after, she also won the World Girls’ Junior Championship in New Delhi with a score of 9.5/11. This last result granted her the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title, at the age of 18.
Shuvalova struggled in her WGP series debut, finishing last in Astana (2022). However, just a few months later, she delivered a solid performance in New Delhi (2023), tying for fourth place. She now returns to Indian soil two years later, hoping for an even stronger showing.
The fifth leg of the FIDE WGP 2024–25 will take place in Pune, India, from April 13 to 24, with Alina Kashlinskaya and Polina Shuvalova replacing Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Kateryna Lagno in the draw. The full pairings can be found below:
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix India 2025 Pairings
FIDE WGP official website: https://womengrandprix.fide.com/