FIDE Women's World Cup: Priyanka beats higher-rated Zsoka in tiebreaks

India's Priyanka K advanced to the second round of the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia as she stunned a higher-rated Gaal Zsoka in the tiebreaks on Tuesday.

Having won on demand the day before to force a tiebreak, Priyanka had a stellar start on Tuesday as she registered a win in the first 15-minute rapid game.

The joy, however, was short-lived. Zsoka returned the favour in the reverse fixture as Priyanka left a rook hanging, thanks to a grave calculation error. 

Zsoka's win pushed the tiebreaks into 10-minute contests.

Both the ten-minute games headed into a draw. Priyanka had a chance to convert the second of those but failed to press home her advantage, further pushing the tiebreaks into 5-minute blitz games.

The Indian emerged as the superior player in the shorter time format as she won both the blitz games to knock a higher-rated Zsoka out of the competition.

Priyanka, the only Indian to play tiebreaks in the first round, will now take on Poland's Klaudia Kulon in the second round.

A total of eight Indians will be in action in the second round, starting Wednesday. Four of those – Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, and Divya Deshmukh – will start their campaign in the competition after having received a bye in the opening round.

The others to make it through the second round include Vantika Agrawal, Padmini Rout, and PV Nandhidhaa.