FIDE Women's World Cup: Vantika stuns former world champion Anna Ushenina

India's Vantika Agrawal stunned former world champion Anna Ushenina in the tiebreaks to advance to third round of the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Friday.

Agrawal, who was forced into a tiebreak after losing the second classical game against Ushenina with the black pieces, struck the decisive blow in the blitz tiebreaks.

This came after Agrawal and Ushenina played out for draws in both the 15-minute and 10-minute rapid time control tiebreak games.

Agrawal drew the first blood in the tiebreaks when she won the first blitz game with the white pieces. With just a draw needed to advance, the Indian held her own with a solid defensive play with the black pieces.

Agrawal prevailed 4.5-3.5 in what was a tense match against Ushenina to make her way into the third round.

She joins the likes of Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, and Vaishali Rameshbabu in the third round. 

Padmini Rout, Priyanka K bow out

Elsewhere, two Indians – Padmini Rout and Priyanka K – bid adieu to the competition, losing their respective matches in tiebreaks on Friday.

Rout, up against Alexandra Kosteniuk, held her own for most part of the tiebreaks but eventually crumbled in the blitz time control.

Much like the two classical games between the two, the 15-minute rapid games fizzled out a draw.

Rout, a former women's national champion, gave the experienced Kosteniuk a scare when she won the first 10-minute game with the white pieces.

With just a draw required to advance, Rout crumbled to the Swiss Grandmaster, losing the next game with the black pieces as Kosteniuk forced the contest into blitz tiebreaks.

Kosteniuk was simply the superior player in the shortest time format, winning the first game with the white pieces before holding for a draw with the next to knock the Indian out of the tournament.

On the other hand, Priyanka K made a quick exit from the tiebreaks she lost both the 15-minute rapid games to Poland's Klaudia Kulon.