Chess
FIDE Women's Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy downs Zhu Jiner; takes solo lead in Pune
Koneru Humpy has 5.5 points in seven rounds.
Koneru Humpy at 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Pune (Photo credit: FIDE)
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy took the solo lead at the 2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Pune with a win over China's Zhu Jiner in the seventh round on Monday.
Humpy, playing with the white pieces, was never in trouble against Zhu, who was the tournament leader coming into this match.
The Indian held steady throughout in the Queen's Indian Defence opening and kept applying pressure move by move.
The 38-year-old kept her patience and was rewarded as Zhu eventually crumbled and made a decisive blunder in the 44th move. The game lasted 11 more moves before the Chinese player resigned.
The win propelled Humpy to solo lead with 5.5 points after seven rounds.
She leads the competition ahead of Divya Deshmukh and Zhu, both of whom have five points.
In the seventh round of play on Monday, even Deshmukh registered an outright win. She took down IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul in 42 moves with the white pieces.
The other Indians in contention – Harika Dronavalli and R Vaishali – drew their respective seventh round matches.
