FIDE Women's Grand Prix: Divya starts with a win at Pune

IM Divya Deshmukh got off to a winning start in the opening round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Pune on Monday.

The Indian beat Bulgaria’s IM Nurgyul Salimova on Day 1.

Meanwhile, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu and GM Koneru Humpy played out a draw in an all India match. Both Vaishali and Humpy were part of the gold winning Olympiad team in Budapest.

GM Harika Dronavalli had a disappointing start, losing to China’s GM Zhu Jiner - winner of the Nicosia GP last month.

This was the first time when the top four Indian women were seen in action in a FIDE GP event.

In other matches of the day, IM Polina Shuvalova beat IM Alina Kashlinskaya of Poland and Munguntuul Batkhuyag beat Melia Salome.

The ten-player round-robin tournament is one of six events that will determine the two players who qualify for the Women’s Candidates Tournament. Currently, Russia's Aleksandra Goryachkina is leading the points table with 308 points.

The Pune-leg is the final GP event for GM Koneru Humpy, IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (MGL), GM Harika Dronavalli, and IM Divya Deshmukh. Each player can play three out of the six legs.

On Tuesday, Humpy will play Melia Salome, Divya will be up against Vaishali and Harika takes on Alina Kashlinskaya.

Shuvalova Polina plays Salimova Nurgyul and Munguntuul Batkhuyag takes on Zhu Jiner.

Results

IM Divya Deshmukh beat IM Nurgyul Salimova

GM Vaishali Rameshbabu draw GM Koneru Humpy

GM Zhu Jiner beat GM Harika Dronavalli

IM Polina Shuvalova beat IM Alina Kashlinskaya

Munguntuul Batkhuyag beat Melia Salome.