Chess
FIDE Women's World Cup: Humpy, Divya to play tie-breaks for title
Humpy's pawn sacrifice went in vain as Divya's defensive play forced a three-fold repetition.
India's Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh played out a second consecutive draw in as many games in the final of the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Sunday.
The experienced Humpy, playing with the white pieces, seemed to have a very slight edge to attack and push for a win in the contest but the 19-year-old Deshmukh was never really in any trouble.
Humpy tried to make the game exciting with a well-calculated pawn sacrifice but it wasn't enough to trouble an in-form Deshmukh, who has played some of the best chess of her career over the last few weeks.
The youngster defended solidly and forced a draw out of her opponent as soon as she sensed an opportunity for a three-fold repetition in 34 moves.
The draw means that the winner of 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup will be decided on the basis of tie-breaks on Monday.
While Deshmukh – the younger of the two – might claim a psychological advantage in the shorter time controls, Humpy will be no pushover.
The 38-year-old from Andhra Pradesh is the reigning women's world rapid champion and the 15-minute, 10-minute games to start the tiebreaks might be right up her ally.
Meanwhile in the bronze medal play-off between two Chinese Grandmasters, Tan Zhongyi emerged victorious on Sunday over Lie Tingjie.
Deshmukh had beaten Tan in the semi-finals, while Humpy had gotten the better of Lie to qualify for the final last week.
