Top seeds have it easy in opening round
Panaji: There were no surprises on the opening day of the 24th World IPCA Chess Championship after the leading players picked up wins at Dona Paula on Tuesday.
The tournament is open to players with physical disabilities of 50% or higher.
The first round witnessed easy victories by top-seeded players, setting the tone for the rest of the tournament. Leading the pack is International Master (IM) Molenda Marcin (Poland), followed by IM Gurbanov Andrei (Israel), who is also the IPCA president.
Top seed IM Molenda Marcin, along with IM Andrei Gurbanov, FM Sargissyan Sargus, FM Soltanov Sorik, IM Obodchuk Andrei, FM Lipillin Llia, Giazan Domagoz, FM Valenta Vit Vaclav, Gedgafor Chamal, WIM Leszner Liliana, Ayapov Alimzhan , IM Campos Eugenio and Takharova Evgeniya were some of the other notable winners on day one.
The tournament has attracted 97 participants from 18 federations across the globe, making it one of the most inclusive and diverse championships.
The participating federations include Angola, Armenia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, FIDE, France, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The opening day not just showcased talent and determination of the participants, but also underscored the power of sports in fostering inclusion, dignity, and global unity.
The second and third round will be played on Wednesday.
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First Post
3 hours ago
- First Post
Divya opens up on missed chances against Humpy in Classical leg of Chess World Cup final: 'Felt like a loss'
IM Divya Deshmukh admitted the draw in Game 1 of the all-Indian FIDE Women's World Cup final against GM Koneru Humpy felt like a defeat, and that she managed to complicate things in Game 2 when it should have been an easy draw. read more Divya Deshmukh had defeated China's Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi, both of whom are ranked inside the world top-10, en route to the FIDE Women's World Cup final against compatriot Koneru Humpy. Image credit: FIDE Two days. Two games. And still no winner. The historic all-Indian FIDE Women's World Cup final between Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and International Master Divya Deshmukh has been quite the entertaining ride so far, but the two players , with this year's champion set to be decided in the tie-breaks on Monday. Divya could have easily been leading the contest heading into Game 1 on Saturday, but failed to capitalise on her experienced compatriot's mistakes to allow Humpy to force a 41-move draw. The 19-year-old from Nagpur was in the mood to attack in the second game as well, only to find the veteran GM matching her move for move and keeping her at bay, even cornering her on a couple of occasions. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I got myself into a mess for no reason' Speaking to FIDE after Game 2 on Sunday, Divya revealed that the draw in Saturday's opening Classical game actually felt like a defeat to her, and that she got herself into an unnecessary mess on the following day in what should have been an easy draw. 'I was quite disappointed with the first game obviously because I saw everything and I just always ended up making the wrong choice, and it was quite a pity. Even though it was a draw, it kind of felt like a loss,' and game two was about recovering from that," Divya said during the interview. 'I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. I was trying to see if there was a win, but I missed this …Qb8 [on move 26]…. It should have been an easy draw,' she added, referring to the second Classical game which ended in just 34 moves through a three-fold repetition. 🇮🇳 Humpy Koneru and 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh will play tie-breaks tomorrow! Game 1 & 2 ended in draws. Stay tuned! Tie-Break Start - 12:00 local time 🇬🇪#FIDEWorldCup — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 27, 2025 Divya, however, does not have the time to be sad right now, and is shifting her focus to the all-important tie-breaks, where she will be competing with Humpy in a series of rapid and blitz games until a decisive result is achieved. And what adds to the challenge is the fact that Humpy happens to be a two-time reigning rapid world champion. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I just tell myself that I have the rest of my life to be sad about it, so don't be sad today and we can be sad about it afterwards,' Divya added.
Hindustan Times
7 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
World Cup chess: Humpy, Divya draw Game 2, push match into tiebreaker
Mumbai: A more sedate draw in the second classical game of the FIDE Women's World Cup final between young Divya Deshmukh and the seasoned Koneru Humpy took matters into the faster tie-breaks on Monday to determine the new Indian champion at Batumi, Georgia. India's Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh at the FIDE Women's World Cup final.(FIDE/X) Playing with white on Sunday, GM Humpy was expected to press for an advantage. Despite creating some chances towards the end to push her opponent into an awkward position, the two shook hands for a 34-move draw that was less dramatic than on Saturday. Still, speaking to FIDE after Sunday's game, the teen challenger felt it could've been a much easier draw for her. 'I got into some trouble for no reason,' she said. IM Divya has been the more adventurous finalist across the two classical games, but now enters into a rapid and blitz tie-breaks territory where her experienced opponent flaunts greater pedigree. Humpy, 38, is the reigning world rapid champion, a title she had also won in 2019. In the faster formats, as Divya herself called it, her opponent is a 'really strong player'. 'In rapid, Humpy is the current world champion. Even if it comes down to blitz, she has been a world No.2 before. I think Humpy could have better chances in rapid and blitz. Divya will have to play very carefully because of Humpy's judgement that tends to put her in better positions around the 10-minute mark,' GM Pravin Thipsay told HT. Divya, however, has also shown good form in the rapid format in this tournament. She won both her rapid matches against GM Harika Dronavalli to enter the semi-final. The key for the teen, according to Thipsay, lies in the positions she can get into when the clock runs down to the final 2-3 minutes of the games. 'If it's passive, she will find it difficult to defend. If she has the initiative, she can win. If things come down to less than one minute or so, Divya's speedy calculations can help her,' said Thipsay. While Humpy has been a picture of calm so far in this all-Indian title clash, Divya has had her up-and-down moments. Speaking about it 24 hours later, she would still rue that missed opportunity in the first game, when she could've really pushed for a victory from a 'closing to winning position', as Thipsay put it, before an impulsive moment and a miscalculated move blew it away. For Divya, that draw stung. 'I was quite disappointed with the first game because I saw everything but ended up making the wrong choice. It was quite a pity. Even though it was a draw, it felt like a loss,' she told FIDE. To her credit, the 19-year-old recovered from that quickly and turned up just as composed and prepared with black to thwart any dangers. 'Divya has shown great maturity for her age. She's very professional in her approach, which is normally not seen in players of that age,' Thipsay said. She will need all of that professionalism and maturity for the decisive tie-breaks against her more accomplished opponent in the format. 'She's a really strong player, but I'm hoping things go my way,' Divya said. The tiebreaker will be held on July 28, Monday.
Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Indian Express
Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh play out a second classical draw. Now what to expect in the tiebreakers of World Cup final?
If the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 wasn't already a physically exhausting and mentally draining tournament, it became all the more so on Sunday after Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy took their all-Indian final clash into an extra day in Batumi, Georgia. The second classical game of their final ended in a draw, pushing the decider to a tiebreak on Monday. While the first leg was a tale of missed opportunities for Divya, the second leg saw a different approach from Humpy, who opted for a non-risky opening with White. She began with knight to f3 from the right flank, choosing a well-known English opening, sticking to her strength, which is positional chess, in the hope of grinding Divya down later in the game. The players quickly exchanged all minor pieces, except for Humpy's dark-squared bishop, which she retained in exchange for Divya's knight, with queens still on the board for counterplay. GM Pravin Thipsay analysed Humpy's opening choice: 'It was expected that Humpy would try to press for an advantage, and that's what happened. She began with the English opening but eventually transposed into the regular Queen's Gambit Declined, the Semitarash variation,' Thipsay told The Indian Express. Explaining Humpy's middle-game strategy, Thipsay added: 'I expected her to play for a better pawn structure, as she excels at exploiting weaknesses. But on move 9, she had a choice between a bishop-over-knight advantage or a superior pawn structure and she opted for the former. In my opinion, a pawn structure advantage would have suited her better.' By the 22nd move, the players entered an endgame with equal pawns, though Humpy sought an edge with her active bishop, placing it on long diagonals. She even sacrificed a central pawn to keep the position sharp and pressure Divya into an error. 'Divya exchanged one of Humpy's knights for a bishop on move 9, and on the 12th move, she gave up her second bishop for a knight, leading to a complex but roughly equal position in a symmetrical pawn structure,' said Thipsay. 'Double bishops are generally better than double knights, but this was a semi-open position with central pawns. I've played this structure many times, and the advantage isn't significant. Divya correctly exchanged rooks, and by the 20th move, a draw seemed inevitable.' 'But Humpy took bold decisions,' he added. 'She sacrificed a pawn on move 23, putting Divya in a tricky spot. Divya missed the best 24th move, which would have forced a draw. After that, Humpy had chances, especially on move 28, where she could have regained the pawn with some advantage.' However, Humpy allowed Divya's position to improve before regaining her pawn, by which point she also forced Divya to end the game by perpetual checks. In the all-Chinese battle for third place, Tan Zhongyi prevailed over top seed Lei Tingjie, clinching her spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Though both players are drained after nearly a month of relentless chess, one can still expect a high-octane tiebreak clash, with neither player likely to back down until the very end. Humpy holds an edge in shorter time controls as a two-time and reigning World Rapid Champion. However, the odds aren't entirely skewed as Divya has never lost to her in Rapid chess. In their two recorded rapid encounters, Divya has one win and one draw. Things will change though, if the tiebreak heads to the Blitz round, the gulf between the two players widens. Humpy, the 2022 World Blitz Championship runner-up, has dominated Divya in this format, winning four of their five blitz games. Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand analysed their strengths ahead of the tiebreak. He said, 'On paper, Humpy has better results, but Divya has more momentum. Humpy's wins have been shakier, but since the 2024 Olympiad (where Humpy didn't play) she's won the Women's World Rapid Championship, the Pune Grand Prix, and performed strongly at Norway Chess. Divya, though, must be relieved this tournament is finally here. Everyone's been waiting for her breakthrough, and both seem pleased with how things are unfolding,' Anand said on ChessBase India YouTube stream. This will be Humpy's second Candidates appearance in a row after her second-place finish in 2023. 'It's a great result (two Indians in the World Cup final), but what I like is this twin thing that on the one hand, we have Harika and Humpy as two veterans of the game but on the other hand, the last Candidates was Vaishali and now we're guaranteed a spot for Humpy and Divya so I like this combination of one youngster and one of the veterans,' Anand remarked. Praising India's first female Grandmaster, he added, 'What Humpy is doing is incredible. I feel bad calling her a veteran, but this is amazing stuff. She has come from a break, so her ability to relaunch herself, so to speak and even she's specialising in the faster format, she's doing quite well there. If you look at her openings, it's all current. In that sense, she shows that not only she's able to play but she's also fully in touch with all the current developments in chess.'
