Divya Deshmukh vs Koneru Humpy: Nothing to separate Indians in FIDE Women's World Cup final opening act

Indian Express

a day ago

In what was billed as the clash of generations between a 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh and a 38-year-old veteran Koneru Humpy in the all-Indian final of the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 could best be described by Andrea Jeremiah's single, 'Neither Yours Nor Mine.' The game that could have swung either way, but eventually ended in a 41-move draw, and Divya will rue her missed chances with white pieces more than a relieved Humpy, who dodged a bullet against her young rival in the first leg of their Classical match in the Georgian coastal city of Batumi on Saturday.
Divya began with a central pawn push in the D-file (1… d4), an opening move she hadn't played the entire event, hoping to surprise Humpy. In response, Humpy advanced her D-file pawn to d5 and captured Divya's pawn after the teenager played c4 on her second move. When Divya replied to Humpy's second move (2… dxc4) with another central pawn push (3… c4), it became clear she wasn't playing for a tame draw.
Her third move was White's most ambitious move yet, aiming to gain a lot of space in the centre while attacking black's pawn at c4 with her bishop with a tempo.
Indian GM Abhijeet Kunte explained the reasoning behind players opting for this opening. 'The opening is Queen's Gambit Accepted, which is quite popular and played when Black wants to play safe. White has some interesting aggressive options. The most important thing in these kinds of openings is that the players are tired,' said Kunte during his commentary for ChessBase India.
'They've played continuously for almost 25 days, and normally by this point, they've exhausted all their fresh ideas. So, they have to rely on middle-game strategies with basic concepts to maintain tempo and momentum. Going into long theoretical variations at this stage of the tournament is always tough,' he added.
Divya then developed both her knights, while Humpy pinned White's king with her dark-squared bishop (4… Bb4+) and brought out one of her knights. The teenager offered a pawn sacrifice to Humpy, but the veteran misplaced her light-squared bishop (7… Bb7?), handing Divya a slight edge on the board.
Pravin Thipsay, the third Indian ever to earn the GM title, explained where Humpy went wrong in the opening. 'Divya seemed very well-prepared in the opening. She not only played the Queen's Gambit but also offered another pawn. On the seventh move, Humpy should have probably taken the pawn as per theory,' Thipsay told The Indian Express.
'Theoretical variations could have led to a roughly equal position if Black had taken the pawn on the seventh move. But Humpy decided against it and developed her bishop instead, leading to a complex position. It was clear both players were now out of their opening preparation, and Divya was slightly better,' he explained.
Venturing into uncharted territory, both players began making positional errors. Humpy's decision to retreat her knight (10… Nd6) instead of developing her other knight gave Divya a near-winning advantage by the 10th move. However, Divya failed to capitalise on Humpy's mistake, and her attempt to sacrifice her White knight instantly equalised the position, nullifying all her hard-earned advantage.
Just as the game seemed headed for a quiet draw, Humpy made a decisive mistake on the 13th move, shifting her king toward the kingside closer to her H-file rook. This once again tilted the position in Divya's favour. Yet, for the third time, Divya let the advantage slip, opting to exchange light-squared bishops along the B-file, a move that neutralised her edge. The correct idea was to activate White's queen, bringing the strongest piece into play.
Thipsay believes Divya's decision to exchange bishops was a critical error, as playing queen to e2 could have forced a quick loss for Humpy. 'The most important moment came when Divya traded bishops and gave away all her advantage. Had she advanced her queen to e2, I believe a mating attack would have followed, likely leading to a quick defeat for Humpy,' he said.
'It looked like a great escape after a risky battle as this game once again proves that Divya is quite well prepared, while Humpy tried to make over-the-board solutions, which perhaps may not be the best idea. Today, however, it worked, as Divya failed to find the best move on two key occasions.'
In a roughly equal position, which was still vulnerable to one-move blunders in a double rook and queen endgame, Humpy attempted to force a draw via threefold repetition. But Divya, to everyone's surprise, declined the draw offer with less than a minute on her clock, still looking to play for a win. However, it was Humpy's superior time management that prevailed in the end as she soon secured the draw through the same threefold repetition.
With White pieces on Sunday, Humpy will now look to impose her presence in this clash. But Divya, in her current form, looks quite ready to rise to any challenge.
Meanwhile, the third-place match between Chinese players Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi also ended in a draw.