FIDE Women's World Cup: Divya Deshmukh storms into finals
In the process, Divya became the first Indian to make it to the Candidates' tournament.
The stakes are high here as the final berth also ensured her entry in the women's Candidates' tournament next year that will decide the challenger to Wenjun Ju, the reigning women's world champion.
Having already eliminated second seed Zoner Jhu of China and then compatriot Grandmaster D Harika in the quarterfinals, Divya continued to be the giant slayer of the event and her game against Tan was a testament to her growing chess skills.
With the Indian boys making a great headway at the top of the chess world, it was already time for the girls to have a say and Divya is the new girl on the block after R Vaishali.
It was tricks and strategy at display by Divya as she converted to an Alapin Sicilian as white and her time exchange of Bishops for knights guaranteed a pawn plus endgame.
Tan had her chances in the middle game but the former women's world champion did not make use of them and at some point simply missed the thread of the position.
As the endgame arrived, Divya had a couple of extra pawns to coast but Tan remained resourceful right till the end of the game.
Divya had an outside passed pawn after the dust subsided and it should have been an easy picking, but the fortunes fluctuated a lot. For the record, the game lasted 101 moves.
In the second semifinal, Koneru Humpy drew with top seed Tingjie Lei of China. Playing white, Humpy faced the Slav defense and went for the iconic exchange variation that normally yields to either equal or giving white the better prospect.
The opening yielded nothing special for Humpy but she got the Bishop pair against two knights to prepare for an advantage. The Queens were traded as early as on 19th move and the payers eventually reached a rook and pawn endgame wherein the Indian enjoyed an extra pawn.
However, with the extra pawn not so relevant, Lei stayed in the loop as the position was not changing much. The draw was a just result when Humpy had just one extra pawn remaining in the rook and pawns endgame and the point was split after 75 moves.
Humpy will now play the tie-breaker against Lei in shorter format.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
She once borrowed shoes. Now she's donating spikes
BHOPAL: She's the youngest of six siblings. A class 8 dropout. A daughter of a dismissed policeman. A bowler with six English wickets and a nation watching. Cricketer Kranti Goud once bowled in hand-me-down shoes. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Today, the 21-year-old Indian women's team star wants to equip budding girl cricketers with premium spiked shoes - free of cost. Her drive? To ensure no girl with talent is benched by poverty. Goud from Ghuwara, a tribal-majority village in MP's Chhatarpur district, has secured a sponsorship deal with an international shoe brand - her first personal milestone off the pitch. On it, she's already made headlines: a searing 6/52 against England, her first five-wicket haul in ODIs, helped India seal the recent series in the third match. Goud's rise from rural Bundelkhand to the national spotlight is a tale stitched with adversity. Her father Munna Singh, a former MP police constable, was dismissed in 2012 during election duty. The family had to vacate their official quarters and shift to a rented home. Eldest brother Mayank dropped out of school to work. "We were in a lot of trouble," he said. "There were days we didn't have proper meals. People mocked us for letting Kranti pursue cricket, but somehow we held on." Coach Rajiv Bilthare took her in at his Sai Cricket Academy in Chhatarpur in 2017. "She came in worn-out clothes and regular shoes," he said. "Her father was jobless. Her family had nothing. I didn't charge her any fees. I gave her shoes, uniform, and even bought her gear." One memory stands out. "I gave her Rs 1,600 to buy cricket spikes. She lit up. Said it felt like a dream," Bilthare said. That dream carried Goud to the national squad. She now wants to help others walk the path - one pair of spiked shoes at a time. "It's time for me to give back to society," she said. "I want to buy a house for my family. That's first. But I also want girls at our academy to play without worrying about money. My assistance will help them focus on the game." The right-arm medium-fast bowler made her ODI debut against Sri Lanka on May 11 and her T20 international debut against England on July 12. She represents MP in domestic cricket and plays for UP Warriorz in Women's Premier League (WPL).
The Hindu
35 minutes ago
- The Hindu
World University Games: Ankita bags women's 3000m steeplechase silver, men's 4x100m relay team takes bronze
Steeplechaser Ankita Dhyani came up with a blistering run to clinch silver in the gruelling 3000m event with a personal-best time of 9:31.99 seconds, while the men's 4x100m relay quartet bagged a bronze as Indian athletes ended their campaign in the World University Games on Sunday (July 27, 2025). The trio of Munita Prajapati, Mansi Negi, and Sejal Singh finished third to take the bronze in women's 20km team racewalk on the concluding day. India ended their campaign with two gold, five silver and five bronze in the showpiece event. On a day when several Indian athletes were in contention in track events, but could bag only two medals, 23-year-old Ankita, a second-year social sciences student, shaved nearly seven seconds from her personal best time of 9:39.00 seconds to finish a few milliseconds behind Finland's Ilona Maaria Mononen, who timed 9:31.86. Adia Budde of Germany took the bronze, clocking 9:33.34 seconds. On Friday, Ankita had topped Heat 1 by clocking 9:54.79 seconds and secured her place in the final. It was a massive 22-second improvement, which propelled Ankita to second place in the competitive race. Ankita remained in the top-five through most of the race and came up with a breathtaking sprint in the final 300 metres to almost catch up with the German before missing the gold by just 0.13 seconds. The men's 4x100m relay team, comprising Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Mrutyam Jayaram, clocked 38.89 seconds to take the bronze. South Korea took the gold in 38.50 seconds, while South Africa (38.80) bagged the silver. The Indian women's 4x400m relay team came up with a season's best time of 3:35.08 seconds, but it was not good enough for a medal, as the quartet of Anakha Bijukumar, Devyaniba Zala, Rashdeep Kaur and Rupal finished fifth, clocking 3:35.08 seconds. The German team, despite a poor reaction time, won the gold with a time of 3:29.68 seconds. The Indian men's 4x400m relay quartet of Vishal Kayalvizhi, Aswin Lakshmanan, Jerome Jayaseelan Panimaya and Balakrishna finished fifth, clocking 3: Poland won the gold with a time of 3:03.64. Indian race walkers had a dismal showing, with none of them finishing in the top-10 in the men's and women's sections, though a few came up with personal or season best timings. However, the trio of Munita, Mansi, and Sejal finished third to take the bronze in women's 20km team racewalk. Sejal came up with a personal best of 1:35:21 seconds to finish 15th, with the gold going to Australia's Elizabeth McMillen in a WUG record time of 1:28:18 seconds. Munita (1:39:33) was 18th, Mansi (1:41:12) was 20th, Shalini (1:48:07) 23rd, and Mahima (1:55.49) 25th. In men's 20km racewalk, Rahul clocked a season's best 1:26:34 seconds but finished 20th in the men's 20km race walk final with the gold going to Andrea Cosi of Italy with a World University Games record of 1:19:48 seconds. Gaurav Kumar (1:28:44) was 25th, Sachin Singh Bohra (1:32:03) 28th and Sanjay Kumar (1:46:21) finished last among 31 competitors. Pole vaulter Dev Kumar Meena (5.35m) settled for a fifth-place finish in the final with the gold going to Simen Guttormsen (5.75m) of Norway. India's medal winners: Gold - Parneet Kaur/Kushal Dalal (mixed team compound archery), Sahil Jadhav (men's compound archery). Silver - Parneet Kaur (women's compound archery), Kushal Dalal/Sahil Jadhav/Hritik Sharma (men's team compound archery), Praveen Chithravel (men's triple jump), Seema (women's 5000m), Ankita Dhyani (women's 3000m steeplechase). Bronze - Badminton mixed team, Vaishnavi Adkar (women's singles tennis), Parneet Kaur/Avneet Kaur/Madhura Dhamangaonkar (women's compound team archery), Sejal Singh, Munita Prajapati, Mansi Negi (women's 20km racewalk team), men's 4x100m relay.
The Hindu
35 minutes ago
- The Hindu
ENG vs IND, fourth Test: Jadeja, Washington refuse Ben Stokes' offer to call off match before start of mandatory overs
Drama unfolded in the high-intensity Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Manchester on Sunday (July 27, 2025) after Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar refused England skipper Ben Stokes' offer to call off the fourth Test and settle for a draw before the start of the final hour of play. There is a provision that allows both captains to shake hands and agree to a draw if they feel that the possibility of a result is impossible. Having worked hard to earn a creditable draw, Jadeja and Washington, batting on 89 and 80 respectively, refused Stokes' offer after he had approached the umpire, which irked the England skipper no end. With both approaching their hundreds after having saved the match for India who started their second innings 311 runs in arrears, Jadeja and Washington exercised their rights to continue batting. India coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Shubman Gill backed the decision to carry on batting. "If someone is batting on 90 and the other one is batting on 85, don't they deserve a hundred? Would they have walked off if someone from England's side would have been batting on 90 or 85? "If someone has the opportunity to get his first Test hundred, won't you allow him to do it? They weathered the storm. It's up to them," Gambhir said at the post-match press conference. "If they want to play that way, that's up to them. I've got nothing more to say. I think both those guys deserved a hundred, and fortunately they got it." On his part, Gill said, "It was up to the boys and both of them were in their 90s, they deserved to score centuries." In the field of play earlier, Stokes had a few words to say as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were also seen enquiring as to why India wanted to carry on. "Do you want to score a hundred against Harry Brook?" Stokes asked sarcastically and all Jadeja said was "I can't do anything." Stokes said later, "We took the game as far as we could. As soon as draw looked inevitable, I wasn't going to risk my bowlers with the short turnaround (time of three days before the start of fifth Test)." Amid the drama, a smiling Jadeja maintained his grace and ticked the English players off as India, as per rules, were well within their rights to carry on batting. In what seemed like a mark of protest, Stokes introduced Harry Brook into the attack and Jadeja hit him for a six to complete his third Test hundred. However, England team's poor attitude was at the forefront as they started bowling proverbial long hops or "donkey drops" as a mark of protest.
