Chess World Cup: Humpy, Deshmukh draw Game 1 in final

Hindustan Times

3 days ago

Mumbai: Moments before Divya Deshmukh shook hands with Koneru Humpy, she sat pressing her eyes and covering her face with her left hand for a few seconds. Quite visibly and evidently, the 19-year-old wasn't too pleased about the end result of the opening game of the FIDE Women's World Cup all-India final in Batumi, Georgia on Saturday. Koneru Humpy. (HT)
A draw isn't the worst outcome for the youngster playing with white, but Divya could look back with a sense of missed opportunity after she couldn't manage to press home the advantage from an aggressive opening. Instead, a draw after 41 moves ensued, which would give the seasoned Humpy a slight advantage going into Game 2 of the title clash on Sunday.
The two-time World Rapid champion will play with white in the second classical game and press for a decisive result. Should the deadlock remain on Sunday, tie-breaks will have to be unlocked on Monday to determine the new World Cup champion – who, either way, will be an Indian.
Divya had her chances to make a critical push towards that, and even Humpy, 38, admitted she came out of that contest having avoided a potentially tricky slope. Asked in the official post-match interview by FIDE if she felt she had overcome a very complicated situation, Humpy said, 'Ya, I agree', before highlighting the 'clearly better position for white'.
Divya placed herself in that better position after a Queen's Gambit Accepted opening. 'I think she prepared for my game, which I played earlier. I just misplayed in the opening and she got into an advantage,' Humpy said.
By the 12th move, the teen had gained a positional advantage, as was reflected in the evaluation bar. The key miss came on the 14th move, for which Divya took significant time and was even seen smiling a little while staring at the board.
Instead of pressing the attack by developing her queen, Divya traded on b7 and then played 15.Qe2. It pulled her down on the evaluation bar and brought Humpy back on level terms.
Both players then made little inaccuracies. Divya was also now battling time pressure, constantly looking at the clock as it came down to below 15 minutes. Time pressure can often lead to blunders but Divya did not let the clock unsettle her into making one. Humpy, who had plenty more time, remained good in defence.
Both players could have agreed to a draw much earlier but carried on looking for any kind of opening. The position was fully balanced once Divya, whose body language remained more animated, came down to under five minutes on the clock. With the black secure and Humpy feeling 'out of danger' after a point, she sat composed.
Soon, after another three-fold repetition, the players shook hands.