FIDE Women's World Cup Highlights: Divya Deshmukh crowned champion

Queen v/s rook and bishop

Some turnaround in the time scramble and Divya now has a queen against Humpy's rook and bishop. The position is back to equal and Divya can actually try and push for a win.

Has Divya erred?

Divya places her queen on g4 and the engine doesn't like it at all. With the clock also down to just over a minute, she seems to be under pressure!

Divya under pressure

The current position doesn't look pleasing for Divya. Her pieces are disconnected at the moment and Humpy seems comfortable. The engine hands a slight advantage to the veteran.

Can Divya fight back for a draw?

Divya in a deep thought

Divya Deshmukh in a deep think now that Humpy has managed to take her black Queen out to f6 square. The black bishop on g6 along with it holds Humpy in a good stead now, as per the commentators.

Deshmukh needs to be accurate here and she knows it. She is taking her time.

All equal so far

Humpy employed the Petrov's Defence with the black and has played accurately so far. Divya has been the faster of the two but the position is equal.

Humpy won't feel too good though with her queen still stuck on the starting square.

We are underway!

Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh shake hands and we are underway with the 15-minute rapid tiebreaks.

Deshmukh with white pieces first up and she starts with e4. Humpy responds with e5.

Tie-break format

Here's how the format for tie-breaks look like. We'll start with 15-minute rapid games and the time control gets shorter and shorter as we move on.

If the games ends up in draw, we'll eventually decide the winner a 3-minute 1 decisive blitz game!

Remember, Koneru Humpy is the reigning women's world rapid champion. She will look to strike early and wrap up the win as soon as possible.

Divya one step away from GM title

Divya Deshmukh is agonisingly close to becoming only the fourth Indian woman to earn the Grandmaster title. If she manages to outplay Humpy today, she will not only walk away with the FIDE World Cup trophy but also the Grandmaster title.

If she loses, she will have to score 2 GM norms later.

If she succeeds she will become India's 88th Grandmaster and 23rd since 2020.

Did you know?

With a top-2 finish here at the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup, both Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy have qualified for the 2026 Women's Candidates?

Divya, in fact, is the first teenager in 34 years to qualify for the prestigious tournament, the winner of which gets a shot at challenging the reigning women's world champion.

Road to Final

This is how Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy reached the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup Final