Latest news with #Women'sCandidates
Time of India
a day ago
- Sport
- Time of India
FIDE Women's World Cup: Divya Deshmukh creates history, qualifies for Candidates tournament
Divya Deshmukh is the first-ever Indian woman to advance to a FIDE Women's World Cup Final (Image via X/@ChessbaseIndia) International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh scripted history on Wednesday by storming into the final of the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China. With this win, Divya also became the first Indian ever to qualify for the Women's Candidates tournament, which will decide the next challenger for world champion Wenjun Ju. Divya won the second game of the semi-final to seal the mini-match 1.5-0.5. It was another stunning performance from the 19-year-old, who has already knocked out second seed Zoner Jhu of China and compatriot Grandmaster D Harika in earlier rounds. Playing with white pieces against Tan, Divya opted for the Alapin variation in the Sicilian Defence and showed her sharp positional understanding. A well-timed exchange of bishops for knights led to a favourable endgame with an extra pawn. Although Tan had chances in the middle game, the former world champion lost her grip on the position. As the game progressed, Divya emerged with two extra pawns and an outside passed pawn. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like These Are The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo However, the match saw several twists before she eventually clinched it after a 101-move battle. Poll What do you think was the key factor in Divya's semi-final victory? Strong positional understanding Mental resilience during the match Zhongyi Tan's mistakes In the other semi-final, Koneru Humpy played out a draw against top seed Tingjie Lei of China. Playing white against the Slav Defence, Humpy went for the exchange variation. The game saw early queen exchanges and Humpy managed to get a bishop pair against Lei's knights. Despite having an extra pawn in a rook and pawn endgame, the position remained balanced, and the game ended in a draw after 75 moves. Humpy will now face Lei in a tie-break to decide the second finalist. 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!
Indian Express
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
How Divya Deshmukh, 19, brought down ex-women's world champion Tan Zhongyi to enter FIDE World Cup final
Like David with a slingshot and a stone, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh just brought down another Goliath at the FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi after defeating former women's world champion Tan Zhongyi on Wednesday. This will be one of the contenders for the most dramatic game of the year, a five-hour battle that lasted 101 moves and saw Tan having an edge at one stage, then making an error to allow Divya to take control of the game, then Divya repaid the favour by throwing away a winning position. And just when a draw appeared to be the likeliest outcome, an error from Tan allowed Divya victory. The end of the game some emotional moments from both players: as Tan searched desperately for another escape hatch and tried to think of a Hail Mary of a move, Divya, realising that there was no way she was going to lose, covered her eyes and composed herself. Tan herself looked aghast at how she had let the game slip away. The 19-year-old from Maharashtra thus earns a spot in the FIDE Women's Candidates tournament, a grandmaster norm and a spot in the final. The other semi-final of the day, between Koneru Humpy and Lei Tingjie ended in a draw after a phase where Humpy had winning chances. Humpy and Lei will be back on the board tomorrow for rapid tiebreaks for a chance to face off against Divya. Divya has been the revelation of the Women's World Cup in Georgia's Batumi, taking down promising IM from Serbia Injac Teodora, world no 6 from China Zhu Jiner, veteran Indian grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, and finally a woman who was the women's world champion in 2018. Divya's run at the ongoing FIDE Women's World Cup is reminiscent of the 2023 FIDE World Cup when an 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa had gone on a giant-killing spree, taking down Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura before losing in the final to Magnus Carlsen. Only last year, Divya became a World Junior Champion. Since then, she's been the face of the Indian women's team that won the gold at the Chess Olympiad at Budapest last year, where she won an individual gold medal herself. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
Time of India
3 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Inspired Divya Deshmukh takes down Harika in rapid
Divya Deshmukh (Image credit FIDE) 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. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 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. 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 qualifiyng 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.' Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Time of India
3 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
A step away from history, Nagpur's chess queen Divya in World Cup Final 4
Nagpur: World Junior Champion Divya Deshmukh scripted history by becoming the first Nagpur master to make it to the final four of the Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Monday. In an all-Indian quarterfinal, the 19-year-old International Master (IM) Divya defeated experienced GM D Harika in the first set of tie-breaks played in Divya's favourite rapid format. The win saw her take a bold step towards qualifying for the Women's Candidates tournament. 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. A day after both Divya and Harika drew their classical games, tie-breaks in the rapid and blitz formats in different time controls were played to identify the semifinalist. Divya won both her games played with the white and black pieces to clinch the quarterfinal 3-1. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like G+35 Tower | 2, 3 & 4 BHK Homes in Navi Mumbai L&T Panvel Enquire Now Undo On her plans against Tan in the semifinals, Divya said, "I always wanted to avoid tie-breaks, but it's not in my hands. I just want to forget everything and eat now. After that, I will start preparing." As a 15th seed, the 2463 Elo Divya started the World Cup by winning the second and third rounds 1.5-0.5 against Georgia's Mgeladze Kesaria and Serbian IM Injac Teodora respectively. In the pre-quarterfinals, Divya was up against China's World No. 6 Zhu Jiner. For the first time in her career, Divya defeated the in-form Zhu when she utilised her opening advantage with the white pieces to surprise the China No. 4 in 49 moves. In the following classical game, Divya failed to defend with the black pieces, and Zhu brought parity with a 57-move win. Divya then made the most of her favourite rapid format to again surprise Zhu and take the lead before she ended the Chinese GM's campaign by playing out an entertaining draw while defending with the black pieces.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Inspired Divya takes down Harika in rapid to face China's World No.8 Tan in semis; India confirms one Candidates berth
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. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Dubai villas | search ads Get Deals 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."
