FIDE Women’s World Cup: Divya Deshmukh storms into finals

International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup here on Wednesday (July 23, 2025).

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.