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First Post
24-07-2025
- Sport
- First Post
Humpy sets up historic all-Indian FIDE Women's World Cup final against Divya after beating top-seed Lei
Koneru Humpy defeated world No 3 Lei Tingjie 5-3, prevailing over the Chinese top-seed with a hat-trick of wins in the tie-breaks after the two players drew both of their Classical matches on Wednesday. read more Koneru Humpy in action during the semi-finals of the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia. Image credit: FIDE The FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, is set to witness a historic all-Indian final with Grandmaster Koneru Humpy defeating Chinese top-seed Lei Tingjie in the tie-breaks to win her semi-final showdown with a 5-3 scoreline. Reigning women's world rapid champion Humpy is set to face International Master Divya Deshmukh, who had won the other Sino-Indian semi-final showdown with a victory over veteran GM Tan Zhongyi 1.5-0.5 on Wednesday. World No 3 Lei had earlier dragged the semi-final into the tie-breaks after holding Humpy to a draw in the second Classical game on Wednesday. And she found herself leading 3-2 at one stage of the tie-breaks, before the 38-year-old Indian GM roared back with a hat-trick of victories – two of them with white pieces. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 🇮🇳 Humpy Koneru will face 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh in the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 Final! 🔥#FIDEWorldCup — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 24, 2025 Only one Indian (GM Harika Dronavalli in 2021) had reached the previous two editions of the prestigious tournament. This edition has witnessed four Indians in the quarter-finals, with two of them going the distance. More to follow
The Hindu
23-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
FIDE Women's World Cup 2025: Koneru Humpy vs Lei Tingjie semifinal heads into tiebreak after Game 2 draw
India's Koneru Humpy played out a draw against China's Lei Tingjie in Game 2 of the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 semifinal in Batumi, Georgia on Wednesday. The tie will now move onto tiebreaks, which will happen on Thursday. Humpy held a massive advantage early in the endgame, before bungling the position as the two players settled for a draw after the 75th move. Action from Game 2 of the FIDE Women's World Cup semifinal. | Photo Credit: Anna Shtourman/FIDE In the other semifinal, Divya Deshmukh trumped China's Tan Zhongyi to become the first Indian to enter a FIDE Women's World Cup final. The win also guarantees Deshmukh a spot at the Candidates tournament set to happen in early 2026. Tiebreak format Two-game match - 10 minutes for each player with a 10-second increment, starting from the first move. Two-game match - Five minutes for each player with a three-second increment, starting from the first move. Two-game match - Three minutes for each player with a two-second increment, starting from the first move. Players keep contesting 3+2 games until a decisive result determines the match winner
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Divya Deshmukh's emergence and Koneru Humpy's resurgence: 2 takeaways for Indian chess evident at FIDE World Cup
The two India vs China semifinals — Koneru Humpy vs Lei Tingjie and Divya Deshmukh vs Tan Zhongyi — ended in contrasting draws on Tuesday at the FIDE Women's World Cup. Both contests are evenly poised heading into the second day of the two-game battle at Batumi. While Divya's draw was short and quick, Humpy pulled out a new trick from her hat to unsettle her opponent before settling for a draw. Such are the high standards that Indians set for themselves; even a draw against the world's best is now unimpressive in their own eyes as was evident from Divya's body language. Asked by FIDE if she was happy, particularly since she had the black pieces, Divya only offered: 'It's okay, I guess.' 'It was quite a short draw, so I don't really have many thoughts about the game,' shrugged the 19-year-old, who's yet to become a GM, after going toe-to-toe and holding her own against a player who was the women's world champion eight years ago. In the three previous games between the pair, the veteran Tan has won twice with Divya salvaging a draw in the final battle. Ask GM Abhijit Kunte, who has seen Divya's rapid rise from close quarters, what that unimpressed reply says about Divya's mindset, and he says: 'In these kinds of mini-matches (games of two), you don't express anything. Because any positive or negative expression is bad for you. You have to remain neutral. And this kind of maturity at 19 is not easy to get. It's very rare.' Kunte, who was the captain of the all-conquering Indian's women's team at the Chess Olympiad last year where Divya was one of the stars, traces her lightning-quick journey to the top: 'Just last year, Divya was a world junior champion. She has always been very brave, someone never afraid to experiment. But she had very limited exposure to the top brass of women's chess. Then she played at the Olympiad last year. This year, she's played in the FIDE Grand Prix events, which has helped immensely.' So far, Divya has had a barnstorming FIDE World Cup, taking down the veteran grandmaster Harika Dronavalli in the quarters, and World No 6 Zhu Jiner in the previous two rounds. Divya has also shown other stand-out attributes on the board. GM Shyamsundar Mohanraj, who is the head of delegation for the Indian team in Batumi and has given the country its last two GMs, points at her victory over the veteran Harika Dronavalli in the previous round via tiebreaks. ❓Who's your pick for the finals? Game 1 of the semifinals was played today — and both ended in draws! 🇨🇳 Lei Tingjie ½–½ Humpy Koneru 🇮🇳 🇨🇳 Tan Zhongyi ½–½ Divya Deshmukh 🇮🇳 #FIDEWorldCup — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 22, 2025 'I say this as an outsider, but Divya's endgame skills and her defensive skills have improved quite a lot in a very short span of time. In the first game against Harika of the tiebreaks, she played dynamic chess to win. But if you look at the second game, she defended very well in a minus position (a position where she had a disadvantage). In Game 2 of the tie-breaks, Divya defended very well despite being low on time. She was barely playing with seconds on the clock, and Harika had like 4-5 minutes. There was pressure because Divya was in a don't-lose situation,' says Shyamsundar. At the other end of the spectrum is the veteran Humpy, who has already accounted for Alexandra Kosteniuk, one of the strongest players in the field, and the up-and-coming Chinese prodigy Song Yuxin. While Divya has stunned higher-rated opponents to script a fairytale story already, Humpy has been clinical: only once in the event has she needed tiebreaks to beat her opponent. In the first game of the semi-final against Lei on Tuesday, Humpy played the Berlin Defence, which she has rarely employed over the course of her lengthy career. In fact, one of the only times she's played it was against Kosteniuk in the previous rounds. On Tuesday, it had the desired effect; it forced Lei to think for about 10 minutes after 4… Ne7, a well-known trap door. 'Three years back, I thought Humpy looked like she was on the verge of quitting. But in the last year, she has come back so strongly. Winning a medal at the World Rapid Championship, then being among the top places in the Women's Grand Prix. Her game is also very positive now: she doesn't agree to quick draws. At this age, many people try to make some quick draws and win some easy games and try to finish in the top. But she's fighting it out. That shows her positive attitude and aggression. It's like seeing a very young Humpy again,' says Kunte before adding with a smile: 'I think Humpy is trying to match Divya's age. And Divya is trying to match Humpy's experience and maturity.' What makes Humpy's resurgence and Divya's emergence at the FIDE World Cup even more remarkable, points out GM Shyamsundar, is how tricky the World Cup is for any player, thanks to the treacherous format of two head-to-head battles and then tiebreaks if needed. 'The format is quite intense and very exhausting for the players. It's a best-of-2 battle. It's a dangerous format in a way and tricky. It's not like other Swiss tournaments (where you don't get eliminated) where even if you lose, you have an extra game to come back. But here, it's not like that. You never know when you will be leaving the tournament,' says Shyamsundar from Batumi. Besides Humpy's resurgence and Divya's emergence, there have been other moments to cheer for Indian chess in Batumi. Like Vantika Agrawal taking down former women's world champion Anna Ushenina. Or four Indians making it to the quarters (R Vaishali and Harika beside Humpy and Divya). He looks at the Indian players' performances and predicts a golden era like the one that men's chess is seeing in India. 'In India, despite the population, we have only had three women who have become GMs. But after seeing the results of these two players from different eras at the World Cup, players of any age in India will get inspired. This will definitely inspire and motivate many women players to take up sports,' says Shyamsundar. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
Times of Oman
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Times of Oman
Humpy scripts history, Harika vs Divya heads to tiebreaks at Women's Chess World Cup
Batumi : Koneru Humpy created history by becoming the first-ever Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the FIDE Women's Chess World Cup. A solid draw in the second game of her quarterfinal clash against China's IM Song Yuxin was enough to seal the deal, according to ESPN. There were a couple of minor inaccuracies along the way, but Humpy kept things under control, playing safe and smart. Eventually, her opponent settled for a draw, which confirmed Humpy's passage into the final four. Earlier, Koneru Humpy struck the first blow, securing the game one in the quarterfinals of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Women's World Cup at Batumi on Saturday night. In the all-Indian quarterfinal between Harika Dronavalli and young Divya Deshmukh, things remained tight. Divya, playing with the white pieces, chose the 'Slav Defense: Modern Line' as her opening, but Harika didn't give her any clear chances. It turned into a long battle, with neither side able to find a breakthrough. After 60 hard-fought moves, the two agreed to a draw. Meanwhile, Vaishali Rameshbabu's impressive run came to an end, as she lost to the third seed Tan Zhongyi of China. Top seed Lei Tingjie, on the other hand, continued her strong form and stormed into the semifinals with another victory over Georgia's Nana Dzagnidze. Humpy will now face Tingjie in a high-profile semifinal showdown, while Tan awaits the winner of the Harika vs Divya.
Hindustan Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Humpy starts as fourth seed in her bid to qualify for Candidates
Batumi , Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has been seeded fourth and will start as one of the favourites in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup, where the top three finishers will qualify for the Candidates' tournament. Humpy starts as fourth seed in her bid to qualify for Candidates China's Lei Tingjie, Jiner Zhu and Zhongyi Tan are the top three seeds. Along with Humpy they spearhead the Asian challenge in the section that has seen Asian dominance now for quite some time. The winner in the Candidates will earn the right to challenge reigning women's champion Wenjun Ju of China in the next championship. The top-21 rated players have been given a direct seeding in to the second round and the Indian list includes as many as four players – Humpy, GM D Harika, GM R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh among those. It is an interesting format wherein 86 players will compete under the knockout format and the 43 winners will be joined by the 21 seeded players to round it off to 64. Each round will be knockout with two classical games and one reserved day for the tie-break games of shorter duration to decide the winner. Apart from the four seeded players, Vantika Agrawal is the other Indian who can spring more than a few surprises while Padmini Rout and P V Nandhidhaa has an impressive resume to stake their claim to cause some upsets. Kiran Manisha Mohanty and K Priyanka complete the Indian line-up. On rating Lei Tingjie has been quite consistent but the rise of Jiner Zhu has been phenomenal in recent years. The Indian women team had won the last chess Olympiad ahead of China but still on rating the Chinese women have been higher ranked and thereby favourites. R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh are two young players who can find themselves at the top of the tables. Vaishali has already played one candidates' tournament and Divya recently defeated highest ranked woman player Yifan Hou, also from China, the world rapid and blitz team championship. Top pairings round 1: Carissa Yip Hannah Wilson ; Evi Yuliana Stavroula Tsolakidou ; Bella Khotenashvili Caxita Esperanca ; Ning Isabelle Yixuan Valentina Gunina ; Anna Ushenina Jesse February ; Ruelle Canino Anna Shukhman ; Yuxin Song Kiran Manisha Mohanty ; Tania Miranda Rodriguez Kulon Klaudia ; Azhar Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Antoaneta Stefanova ; Zsoka Gaal K Priyanka ; Lala Shohradova Vantika Agrawal ; Padmini Rout Zhang Lanlin ; Ortiz Verdezoto Anahi P V Nandhidhaa . This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
