 "India's Divya Deshmukh reacts after defeating China's Tan Zhongyi to advance to the FIDE Women's World Cup Final in Batumi, Georgia on Wednesday, 23 July. Image credit: Screenrgab of video posted by FIDE on X")
Divya Deshmukh made history in Batumi, Georgia on Wednesday after defeating China’s Tan Zhongyi 1.5-0.5 in the semi-finals of the FIDE Women’s World Cup. The International Master thus not only qualified for next year’s Women’s Candidates Tournament after being guaranteed a top-three finish at the ongoing tournament, she also became the first Indian to reach the final of the Women’s World Cup.
Divya achieved the feat with a gruelling victory over Chinese Grandmaster Tan in 101 moves while playing with white pieces in Game 2 of their semi-final clash on Wednesday. The two players had played out a 30-move draw in Game 1 on the previous day, in which the Indian had played with black pieces.
Divya becomes first Indian in World Cup final
In the process, Divya also inched closer to becoming India’s fourth female ‘Grandmaster’, having achieved her first GM norm with her triumph on Wednesday.
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Deshmukh had earlier defeated Chinese second-seed Zhu Jiner, ranked sixth in the latest FIDE ratings, by a 2.5-1.5 scoreline in the fourth round to become one of four Indians in the quarter-finals. She would then triumph over compatriot Harika Dronavalli in the last-8 by a 3-1 scoreline, winning both tie-break games after back-to-back draws in the Classical games.
Divya could have played back-to-back games against her compatriots had R Vaishali not lost to Tan in the quarters.
The Women’s World Cup could witness a historic all-Indian final if Koneru Humpy goes on to defeat Chinese top-seed Lei Tingjie in the tie-breaks, with the two Grandmasters playing out back-to-back draws in the Classical games.
The Humpy-Lei showdown was fairly similar to that of the other Indo-Chinese semi-final showdown at the World Cup; the two shook hands in just 38 moves on Game 1 but produced an intense battle the following day, resulting in a 75-move stalemate with Humpy, who had beaten Song Yuxin in her last-8 clash, playing as white.
Humpy and Lei will be playing a series of tie-breaks – which gets underway at 4.30 pm IST on Thursday (3 pm local time) with decreasing time-controls starting with two 15+10 games.
Deshmukh, meanwhile, gets a two-day breather, which includes the second and final ‘Free Day’ on Friday, as she awaits the winner of the tie-breaks.
Should Humpy win, she’ll become the second confirmed Indian participant at next year’s Candidates Tournament, which will help her complete a hat-trick of appearances at the prestigious events – having previously featured in the last two editions in 2022 and 2024.