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How Divya missed out on going 1-0 up against Humpy in Game 1 of FIDE Women's World Cup Final
The final round of games in the third edition of the FIDE Women's World Cup got underway in Batumi, Georgia on Saturday, with the all-Indian final between Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh and the all-Chinese third-place playoff between Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi ending in a draw.
With all four players collecting half-a-point each, both contests will remain wide open when the second Classical game gets underway less than 24 hours from now. Whether they end with a decisive result on Sunday itself or move into the tie-breaks on Monday, is something that only time will tell.
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But before we turn our attention to Game 2, we revisit the opening duel between the two Indians, who have confirmed their place in next year's Candidates Tournament by virtue of being guaranteed a top-three finish in the ongoing tournament.
Did Divya miss out on the chance to go 1-0 up against her experienced compatriot?
Divya and Humpy played out a 41-move draw on Saturday with the former playing with white pieces. It wasn't quite the hard-fought stalemate in which the two players battled on towards the 100-move mark, refusing to give up until neither had any gas left in the tank. The two Indians shook hands in 41 moves, but the draw was anything but ordinary.
The game began with a Queen's pawn opening, and it wasn't long before Divya had both of her knights galloping out forward, with her kingside knight capturing Humpy's corresponding piece in just the fifth move. This was, of course, after the latter gave the white king a check with her dark-squared bishop, which forced the 19-year-old IM to bring out her other knight.
Mistakes, however, started to creep into Humpy's game inside the first 10 moves, starting with her decision to move her light-squared bishop in the seventh move (Bb7). According to Lichess, the 38-year-old would have been better served capturing Divya's E-file pawn (Nxe4).
That was followed by Humpy's decision to withdraw her knight shortly after capturing the aforementioned E-file pawn (Nxe4). The Lichess engine feels the veteran should have used this opportunity to advance her other knight (Nd7). Three moves later, she committed an absolute blunder by moving her king to f8 instead of closer to the queen at d8.
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'The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn, which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white,' said Indian GM Pravin Thipsay told news agency PTI after Game 1.
'However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead,' he added, referring to a blunder by Divya (12. Nxc4 bxc4) in which she lost a huge chunk of advantage on the eval bar with a knight sacrifice.
Despite failing to capitalise on Humpy's errors, Divya refused to give up and remained on the hunt for a victory even as her opponent tried offering her a draw via repetition, with the game later meandering towards a double-rook-and-queen endgame.
Game 1 of the Final between 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh and 🇮🇳 Humpy Koneru ends in a draw! #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/qa8y5FmoH1 — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 26, 2025
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However, it was Humpy's superior time management that allowed her to eventually walk away with a draw, with Divya having half-a-minute left on her clock at one point. And after her escape in Game 1, Humpy with be aiming to come up with a strong response in Game 2 in which it will be her turn to play with white pieces.
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