'Historic moment in Indian Chess': Divya, Humpy, Harika and Vaishali hailed for incredible run at Women's World Cup

It was an incredible day for the Indian contingent at the FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi, Georgia with all four Indians – Grandmasters Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R Vaishali and International Master Divya Deshmukh – winning their fourth-round clashes on Friday. Not only does that boost the chances of an Indian winning the third edition of the prestigious competition, which is set to conclude on 29 July, it also increases the likelihood of Indian participation at next year’s Candidates Tournament.

The Women’s World Cup, after all, offers three slots for Candidates – the qualification tournament to decide the challenge to the reigning world champion. And despite an all-Indian showdown between Divya and Harika in the quarters, the possibility of Indians finishing in the top three and securing their place in the Candidates remains alive for now.

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The tournament, meanwhile, has witnessed some incredible results. Earlier in the second round, it was IM Vantika Agrawal triumphing over GM Anna Ushenina, a former women’s world champion, in the second round. And in Round 4, Divya defeated Chinese second seed Zhu Jiner, ranked 12 places above her on the latest FIDE ratings, in the tie-breaks after both players finished level at the end of the Classical games.

Senior GMs Humpy and Harika defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno respectively while Vaishali triumphed over Kazakhstani Woman Grandmaster Meruert Kamalidenova.

Indian chess president and others react to superb performance in Batumi

Their heroics was celebrated by the chess community on social media with All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang among those congratulating the quartet. Here are select reactions:

A wonderful day for Indian chess as our three stars Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Divya Deshmukh have reached the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup after winning their tense tie breaker matches. Vaishali will aim to join them with another round of tie breaker games… pic.twitter.com/Vdg9BKK7SY

— Nitin Narang (@narangnitin) July 18, 2025

CAREER-DEFINING MOMENT!!!!!! 🤩
Divya Deshmukh knocks out No. 2 seed GM Zhu Jiner and is through to the quarter-finals!!!!!!!! 🇮🇳🥳🥳🥳🥳https://t.co/nsi6yYqNtF
📷: Anna Shtourman#chess #womeninchess #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/rs0yhsngJn

— Women's Chess Coverage (@OnTheQueenside) July 18, 2025

Divya Deshmukh defeats hundred points higher rated Zhu Jiner of China to reach the quarterfinals of Chess Women's World Cup.

This is what a hard-working youngster with correct priorities and minimal distractions can do!@DivyaDeshmukh05 pic.twitter.com/Cc9keC1Bls

— Abhinav Mishra (@abhinav_omkar) July 18, 2025

A historic moment in Indian Chess!
GM Koneru Humpy, GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, and IM Divya Deshmukh - all 4 of them played the tiebreaks in the Pre-QFs, and won their matches to enter Quarter finals of FIDE Women's World Cup 2025!
Photos: Anna Shtourman pic.twitter.com/Vh4N6wdfdQ

— Achyutha (@achyutha) July 18, 2025

IM Divya Deshmukh defeated her nemesis GM Zhu Jiner in the tiebreaks of the 4th round in the Women's World Cup to reach the QF 🔥

Finishing top-3 will get her a place at Women's Candidates, reaching the final will give her a GM norm & winning the title will earn her the GM title pic.twitter.com/3NvvUllLgl

— Shaili (@shailivation) July 18, 2025

The quarter-finals will get underway on Saturday and will conclude with the tie-breaks on Monday. Besides the Divya-Harika face-off, Humpy and Vaishali will be up against Chinese opponents – facing Song Yuxin and Tan Zhongyi respectively.