Nagpur: Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh of Nagpur made a huge stride forward, defeating second seed Jiner Zhu of China in the first game of the pre-quarterfinals of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup here on Wednesday. Divya was rejuvenated after the first rest day of the event as she outplayed the much higher ranked Zhu and is now just a draw away in the return game to make it to the quarter-finals.
It was a Sicilian defence by Zhu that met with some original response from Divya as she gained control in the centre and then slowly nurtured her position. Zhu is not someone who can be kept quiet for long and her instinct to get some counter play towards the end of the first time control proved quite risky as Divya effectively converted to a better Queen and minor piece endgame. With her Queen and knight creating havoc soon after, Divya faced no troubles in scoring an important victory.
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15 july 2025
Top rated Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy played out a hard-fought draw with former world women’s champion Alexandra Kosteniuk of Switzerland. The Berlin defence by Humpy gave an optical advantage to the Russian-turned-Swiss but the Indian held on to her own to split points. D Harika played an enterprising game but had to settle for a draw with Kateryna Lagno who is playing under the FIDE flag here. Harika sacrificed a couple of pawns but her Bishop pair always gave her enough play for the lost material.
The otherIndian in the fray, R Vaishali also signed the peace treaty with Meruert Kamalidenova of Kazakhstan. Vaishali did not get much out of the opening and all minor pieces changed hands to let the position remain level in the ensuing heavy pieces position.
