FIDE Women's World Cup: Koneru Humpy Beats Yuxin Song, A Draw Away From Semis
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy defeated China's Yuxin Song in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup quarterfinals. Divya Deshmukh and D Harika drew, as did R Vaishali and Zhongyi Tan.
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy outclassed China's Yuxin Song in the first game of the quarterfinals, making significant progress towards the last four of the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup on Saturday.
Humpy was at the top of her game against Song, who played the black side of an English opening. From the start, Humpy had clear ideas as the game developed into a structure similar to a Catalan opening.
In the early middle game, Humpy launched an offensive in the centre, sacrificing a pawn to significantly weaken black's pawn structure. Song struggled from this point and could not find a way to recover.
Humpy advanced another pawn and by the time the dust settled, Song was two pawns down. Despite fighting on for 53 moves, Song could not secure a miracle.
Meanwhile, the all-Indian clash between Divya Deshmukh and D Harika ended in a draw after both players played solidly without giving anything away.
The game began with a Ruy Lopez, where Divya, playing white, chose a less-played system. Harika was well-prepared to keep white's pieces at bay, resulting in a position with few opportunities. After the queens were traded, the draw was inevitable and was agreed upon after just 31 moves.
In a tactical battle, Dzagnidze found her opponent to be smarter. The transition to a hanging pawns structure made both kings vulnerable in the middle game, but Lei struck first and won a knight. The subsequent endgame was straightforward.
What About Other Indians?
In the other quarterfinal match, R Vaishali drew with former world women's champion Zhongyi Tan of China. Vaishali's Italian opening with white did not pose much of a problem for Tan, as the position remained close to equal.
In the endgame, Vaishali exchanged a rook for a bishop, resulting in a drawn position. She continued playing the longest game of the day, which ended after 73 moves.
The World Cup has a total prize pool of USD 691,250, with USD 50,000 for the winner. Additionally, there are three qualifying spots for the next women's Candidates' Tournament, which will determine the challenger to reigning champion Wenjun Ju in the next women's world championship match.
Quarterfinal results game 1: Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Yuxin Song (Chn); Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Tingjie Lei (Chn) (Ind); R Vaishali (Ind) drew with Tan Zhongyi (Chn); Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with D Harika (Ind).
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