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International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final of the FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup on Wednesday by defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China. Divya won the second game of the semifinals, taking the mini-match 1.5-0.5.
With this win, Divya became the first-ever Indian woman to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, which will decide who gets to challenge the current women’s world champion, Wenjun Ju.
Divya’s journey to the final has been remarkable. She already got rid of second seed Zhongyi Zhu of China and Indian Grandmaster D. Harika in the earlier rounds. Her win over Tan showed just how much she has grown as a player.
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Playing with the white pieces, Divya chose the Alapin variation of the Sicilian Defence and went for a strategic trade, swapping her bishops for Tan's knights, which eventually led to a favourable endgame with an extra pawn.
Tan had some chances in the middle game but missed key opportunities and eventually lost control of the position. Even though she stayed resilient till the end, Divya’s passed pawn proved too strong. The game was long and intense, lasting 101 moves.
Meanwhile, in the other semifinal, Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy drew her game with China’s top seed Tingjie Lei. Playing white, Humpy went with the exchange variation of the Slav Defence. She managed to get a slight edge by securing the bishop pair against Lei’s knights.
Despite having an extra pawn in the endgame, Humpy couldn’t convert it into a win because the position remained balanced. After 75 moves, the game ended in a fair draw.
Humpy and Lei will now play a tie-break in faster time controls to decide who moves on to the final.
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