 "International Master Divya Deshmukh faces Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli in the quarter-finals of the FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, meaning the semi-finals will have at least one Indian for the first time ever. Image credit: FIDE")
Women’s chess in India witnessed one of its greatest moments on Friday with four Indians making it to the quarter-finals of the ongoing FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi, Georgia. A total of nine Indians had participated in the third edition of the prestigious tournament out of which only one – Kiran Manisha Mohanty – had bowed out in the first round of the tournament.
The quartet of Grandmasters Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R Vaishali and International Master Divya Deshmukh had made it to the fourth round of the tournament , with IM Vantika Agrawal narrowly missing out after a 3.5-2.5 defeat against Russian GM Kateryna Lagno in the third round.
All four Indians would then emerge triumphant in the pre-quarters , keeping the possibility of a historic Indian top-three finish alive.
Indians on a roll at the World Cup
India has been going for strength to strength as a chess-playing nation since it won bronze in the ‘Open’ and ‘Women’ categories at the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai – with the nation completing a golden sweep in the next edition of the tournament in Budapest two years later.
Prestigious events such as last year’s Candidates as well as Tata Steel Chess earlier this year have also witnessed Indians not only participate in big numbers but also go the distance. That appears very much to be the story in the ongoing Women’s World Cup, where at least one Indian is guaranteed to feature the semi-finals.
The inaugural edition of the tournament, which took place in Sochi in 2021, had just one Indian in the quarter-finals, with Harika bowing out at this stage with a defeat against Aleksandra Goryachkina. Two years later Baku, none of them would reach the fourth round with Harika losing her third-round clash against Russia’s Valentina Gunina.
One can therefore gauge just how far Indian chess has progressed, in the ‘Open’ as well as ‘Women’ categories, with the results of the ongoing tournament in Batumi.
What makes this tournament even more special from India’s perspective are the giant-killing acts along the way.
Vantika, after all, had made headlines in the second round with her stunning victory over Ukrainian GM Anna Ushenina – a former Classical world champion – in the second round.
Fellow IM Divya, who is also hoping to join India’s growing list of Grandmasters in the near future, would pull off something similar by defeating Chinese second-seed Zhu Jiner – who is ranked 12 places above her at sixth on the latest FIDE ratings.
Chinese resistance in last-8
Divya is set for an all-Indian quarter-final meeting with Harika, who had defeated Russia’s Kateryna Lagno in the fourth round, meaning at least one Indian will be featuring in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time time.
There’s plenty of Chinese representation in the last-8 as well – with Lie Tingjie, Song Yuxin and Tan Zhongyi also reaching the quarter-finals. The only non-Indian/Chinese quarter-finalist at the tournament is home favourite Nana Dzagnidze, who’s up against world No 3 Lei.
World No 5 Humpy, meanwhile, faces Song – who’s ranked 31 places below her, while Vaishali’s up against Tan, ranked eighth in the world.
Can the Indians capture three out of four semi-final spots in Batumi? Certainly easier said than done given the competition that they face in the next stage. Then again, not many would have backed them to capture half of the quarter-final spots with a collective performance for the ages.