 "Divya Deshmukh had defeated China's Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi, both of whom are ranked inside the world top-10, en route to the FIDE Women's World Cup final against compatriot Koneru Humpy. Image credit: FIDE")
Two days. Two games. And still no winner. The historic all-Indian FIDE Women’s World Cup final between Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and International Master Divya Deshmukh has been quite the entertaining ride so far, but the two players remain on level terms after the Classical leg of the showdown , with this year’s champion set to be decided in the tie-breaks on Monday.
Divya could have easily been leading the contest heading into Game 1 on Saturday, but failed to capitalise on her experienced compatriot’s mistakes to allow Humpy to force a 41-move draw. The 19-year-old from Nagpur was in the mood to attack in the second game as well, only to find the veteran GM matching her move for move and keeping her at bay, even cornering her on a couple of occasions.
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‘I got myself into a mess for no reason’
Speaking to FIDE after Game 2 on Sunday, Divya revealed that the draw in Saturday’s opening Classical game actually felt like a defeat to her, and that she got herself into an unnecessary mess on the following day in what should have been an easy draw.
“I was quite disappointed with the first game obviously because I saw everything and I just always ended up making the wrong choice, and it was quite a pity. Even though it was a draw, it kind of felt like a loss,” and game two was about recovering from that," Divya said during the interview.
“I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. I was trying to see if there was a win, but I missed this …Qb8 [on move 26]…. It should have been an easy draw,” she added, referring to the second Classical game which ended in just 34 moves through a three-fold repetition .
Divya, however, does not have the time to be sad right now, and is shifting her focus to the all-important tie-breaks, where she will be competing with Humpy in a series of rapid and blitz games until a decisive result is achieved. And what adds to the challenge is the fact that Humpy happens to be a two-time reigning rapid world champion.
“I just tell myself that I have the rest of my life to be sad about it, so don’t be sad today and we can be sad about it afterwards,” Divya added.