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Inspired Divya takes down Harika in rapid to face China's World No.8 Tan in semis; India confirms one Candidates berth

Inspired Divya takes down Harika in rapid to face China's World No.8 Tan in semis; India confirms one Candidates berth

Time of India3 days ago
Nagpur: Making the most of her favourite chess format, World junior champion Divya Deshmukh made it to the FIDE Women's World Cup semifinals in Batumi, Georgia, on Monday.
Nagpur's 19-year-old International Master (IM) knocked down veteran Grandmaster D Harika in the first set of quarterfinal tiebreaks played in Divya's favourite rapid format.
The win saw her take a bold step towards qualifying for the Women's Candidates tournament.
Divya won both her games played with the white and black pieces to clinch the quarterfinal 3-1, a day after the compatriots drew two of their classical games.
Divya was overwhelmed with emotions after winning the second tiebreak game, which at one stage was a losing contest for her. She said, "Happy with the way I played today. I think the preparation had a lot of role in the first rapid game today.
I would like to thank my coach for this. The last game didn't go the way I thought. In the second game, Harika played quite well, I am just glad it's over."
In the day's opening game played in the rapid format, Divya utilised her opening advantage with white pieces well. Divya opted for the Giuoco Piano Game with Center attack, utilising her pawn. On the 22nd and 24th turns, Harika made a couple of dubious moves, and Divya found her attacking weapon.
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On the 33rd move, Divya snatched Harika's queen by exchanging her rook to take a firm grip on the contest. She converted the queen vs rook endgame and took the lead by winning the contest in 57 moves.
In the following game with black pieces, Divya chose the Slav Defense of Modern Line. After Divya played a couple of questionable moves, Harika made a mistake on the 18th turn. Despite that, the game remained equal with a couple of Harika's bishops and Divya's knight and bishop.
A 60th move by Divya confused Harika, and she made back-to-back blunders on the 61st and 63rd turns.
Divya was severely low on time and on the verge of losing the contest, but she started making her moves fast and succeeded in going a pawn up. When Divya made her winning 76th move by advancing her pawn, Harika resigned.
From Tuesday, the semifinal battles will be played between India and China. Divya will face China's World No.
8 Tan Zhongyi, and Koneru Humpy will be up against top seed Lei Tingjie. With the top three finishers qualifying for the Women's Candidates tournament, both Humpy and Divya can earn the right to fight in the event from where the World Champion Challenger will be identified.
On her plans against Tan in the semifinals, Divya said, "I always wanted to avoid tiebreaks, but it's not in my hands. I just want to forget everything and eat now. After that, I will start preparing."
On who was the toughest opponent in the World Cup so far, Divya said, "Zhu was the toughest opponent. Winning against Zhu in tiebreaks gave me confidence, and today it reflected in my play."
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India vs India in FIDE World Cup final: Koneru Humpy beats China's Lei Tingjie to set up Divya Deshmukh battle
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time23 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

India vs India in FIDE World Cup final: Koneru Humpy beats China's Lei Tingjie to set up Divya Deshmukh battle

With a march of her king in the penultimate blitz game against China's Lei Tingjie, Koneru Humpy, the undisputed queen of Indian chess, barged into the FIDE Women's World Cup Final. In doing so, Humpy set up an India vs India battle for the title, with 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh having confirmed her qualification just yesterday with a win over another Chinese combatant, former women's world champion Tan Zhongyi. At 38, Humpy is twice Divya's age, which sets up a fascinating clash of generations. Humpy has seen a resurgence in her career over the last year, kick-started by her winning the FIDE World Rapid Championship in December last year, her second rapid title after the one in 2019. She had eased up on her events over the past few years to focus on her daughter and family life. 'This is one of the happiest moments for Indian chess fans. The title is coming to India for sure,' Humpy told FIDE in an interview after her win. 'In the final, it will be a tough game, Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament.' The presence of two Indian women in the FIDE Women's World Cup final at Georgia's Batumi also means that there will be two Indians at least in the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament. The Candidates is an eight-player royal rumble to decide the challenger to the women's world champion. Other players like Vaishali Rameshbabu, Harika Dronavalli and Vantika Agrawal will also have further chances to qualify for the Candidates in the coming months, like at the FIDE Grand Swiss or through other pathways. India had its best head count at the previous Candidates tournament when Humpy and Vaishali had qualified. That record is already set to be matched at the upcoming Candidates. Humpy's win was remarkable because it took her eight games over three days to breach the challenge put up by Lei Tingjie in the semi-final. Humpy and Lei played out two draws on Tuesday and Wednesday in the classical format, before tiebreaks on Thursday became necessary. There, the first two games, played with 15 minutes (with a 10 second increment per move) also ended as draws before Lei landed the first punch by winning the first game of the 10 minute (+10 second per move increment) tiebreak. Now, Humpy had to win on demand, or else she would have to battle for the third spot against Tan later this week. Humpy didn't just win the next game, she won the next three. The first win sent the battle into another best-of-two tiebreak, this time to be played in the blitz format with both players having five minutes on the clock with a three-second increment per move. There, both set of queens and rooks marauded the board, smiting and killing at will. At some stage in the middle game, Humpy had an advantage, then the advantage corroded away as the eval bar settled in the middle, then Lei had the edge. Both players were playing with just seconds on their clock. In the heat of this battle, on move 44, came the decisive error from Lei: she pulled back her rook (44… Ra6) instead of moving her queen closer to the king to create an air-tight defence. Humpy capitalised, and soon Lei's queen was off the board. Now came Humpy's moment, with both players having four pawns each, on the same side of the board, Humpy's queen proved too overpowering for Lei's remaining rook. When the resignation came on move 70 from the Chinese GM, Humpy's king had marched down the board and was sitting on the sixth rank with the queen waiting to pounce and deliver a crushing checkmate. Now Lei had to win on demand with white pieces, but she lost instead in 33 moves. 'It was a very tough match, initially I played very badly with black pieces. She always had the advantage. After the loss, it was a very difficult situation but I was able to come back. The blitz portion was in my control. I played a bit shaky in the rapid portion,' admitted Humpy.

FIDE Women's World Cup 2025: When is Koneru Humpy vs Divya Deshmukh in the final? What is the prize money?
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FIDE Women's World Cup 2025: When is Koneru Humpy vs Divya Deshmukh in the final? What is the prize money?

Konreu Humpy and Divya Deshmukh India is guaranteed a historic win at the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 as Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh have reached the final after winning their semifinal matches. Divya Deshmukh defeated China's Tan Zhongyi to book her place in the final. Koneru Humpy advanced by beating Chinese GM Lei Tingjie in the tiebreaks on Thursday. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The final will begin on Saturday, July 26 with Game 1, followed by Game 2 on Sunday, July 27. If needed, tiebreaks will be played on Monday, July 28. The winner of the event will receive $50,000, (₹41.6 lakhs) while the runner-up will take home $35,000 (₹29.1 lakhs). Match Format: Each player will have 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. A 30-second increment per move will be added from move one. If the match is tied after two classical games, tiebreaks will follow: Two rapid games of 10 minutes + 10-second increment. If still tied, two 5-minute + 3-second increment games. If required, two blitz games of 3 minutes + 2-second increment. If needed, 3+2 blitz games will continue until there is a winner. Spectators can expect high drama, with the format ensuring a definite champion emerges, no matter how evenly matched the players are. This marks the first time two Indian women have reached the final of the Women's World Cup, ensuring a major milestone for Indian chess. The strong performance by both players, especially against tough Chinese opponents, highlights India's rising presence in international chess. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!

Humpy sets up historic all-Indian FIDE Women's World Cup final against Divya after beating top-seed Lei
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First Post

timean hour ago

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Humpy sets up historic all-Indian FIDE Women's World Cup final against Divya after beating top-seed Lei

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