 "Vantika Agrawal continues good form as she stuns higher-ranked Kateryna Lagno at FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025")
Indian Grandmasters Vantika Agrawal and Divya Deshmukh staked their claims for the pre-quarterfinals after winning the first game of the third round against Kateryna Lagno of Russia and Teodora Injac of Serbia, respectively, in the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 in Batumi (Georgia) on Saturday.
With the knockout event down to the last 32 participants, Vantika crushed higher-ranked Lagno, giving another indication of her fast-growing stature among the Indian women.
Divya was the favourite in her match, and she lived up to the expectations by beating Injac with the black pieces. She is now a firm favourite amongst the five remaining Indians in the fray.
Meanwhile, the highest rated Indian Koneru Humpy settled for a draw with Kulon Klaudia of Poland with white pieces. D Harika also could not win and signed peace with Tsolakidou Stavroula, while another fancied Indian, R. Vaishali, played out a draw with Carissa Yip of the United States.
Vantika scripts big win against Lagno
Top seed Lei Tingjei of China defeated Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria. It remains to be seen how the Bulgarian comes to terms with a situation where she has to beat the highest-rated player in the event to force a tiebreaker.
Another Chinese favourite, Zhu Jiner, put it across Aleksandra Maltsveskaya of Poland to be in the running to win a spot in the last 16.
However, the day belonged to Vantika as she stole the limelight against one of the fancied Russians in the event. As is known, the Russian players here play under the FIDE flag.
What started off with a Grunfeld took shape in a symmetrical pawn structure in the middle game, and Lagno struggled to find the right plan. Vantika was in her elements, though, as she went for complications at the first opportunity, and it was clear that Lagno was no match for the Indian in the tactics that emerged.
An erroneous move by Lagno on her 20th turn gave Vantika an extra piece, and she never looked back. In the return game as black, Vantika just needs a draw to qualify for the next round.
Divya outclassed Teodora Injac from a level-looking endgame arising out of a queen pawn opening. The Serbian was not able to calculate too well, and Divya cashed in without missing much.
Complete results of the round 3 game
1: Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) lost to Lei Tingjie (Chn); Zhu Jiner (Chn) beat Aleksandra Maltsveskaya (Pol); Irina Bulmaga (Rou) drew with Tan Zhongyi (Chn); Koneru Humpy (Ind) drew with Kulon Klaudia (Pol); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) drew with Yixing Song (Chn); Vantika Agrawal beat Kateryna Lagno (Fid); Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) beat Valentina Gunina (Fid); Bella Khotenashvili (Geo) lost to Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr); Dronavalli Harika (Ind) drew with Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre); Carissa Yip (Usa) drew with R Vaishali (Ind); Polina Shuvalova (Fid) drew with Lela Javakhashvili (Geo); Teodora Injac (Srb) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind); Kaliakhmet Elnaz (Kaz) drew Umida Polonova (Uzb); Meri Arabidze (Geo) drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui); Osmak Yuliia (Ukr) beat Lu Miaoyi (Chn); Kamalidenova Meruert (Kaz) drew with Anna Shukhman.
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