International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the ultimate, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China within the second sport of the semifinals and successful the mini-match 1.5-0.5 within the FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup right here on Wednesday (July 23, 2025).
In the method, Divya turned the primary Indian to make it to the Candidates’ match.
The stakes are excessive right here as the ultimate berth additionally ensured her entry within the ladies’s Candidates’ match subsequent 12 months that may resolve the challenger to Wenjun Ju, the reigning ladies’s world champion.
Having already eradicated second seed Zoner Jhu of China after which compatriot Grandmaster D Harika within the quarterfinals, Divya continued to be the large slayer of the occasion and her sport towards Tan was a testomony to her rising chess abilities.
With the Indian boys making an amazing headway on the high of the chess world, it was already time for the women to have a say and Divya is the brand new woman on the block after R Vaishali.
It was methods and technique at show by Divya as she transformed to an Alapin Sicilian as white and her time alternate of Bishops for knights assured a pawn plus endgame.
Tan had her probabilities within the center sport however the former ladies’s world champion didn’t make use of them and sooner or later merely missed the thread of the place.
As the endgame arrived, Divya had a few additional pawns to coast however Tan remained resourceful proper until the tip of the sport.
Divya had an out of doors handed pawn after the mud subsided and it ought to have been a simple choosing, however the fortunes fluctuated quite a bit. For the report, the sport lasted 101 strikes.
In the second semifinal, Koneru Humpy drew with high seed Tingjie Lei of China. Playing white, Humpy confronted the Slav protection and went for the enduring alternate variation that usually yields to both equal or giving white the higher prospect.
The opening yielded nothing particular for Humpy however she bought the Bishop pair towards two knights to arrange for a bonus. The Queens had been traded as early as on nineteenth transfer and the payers ultimately reached a rook and pawn endgame whereby the Indian loved an additional pawn.
However, with the additional pawn not so related, Lei stayed within the loop because the place was not altering a lot. The draw was a simply outcome when Humpy had only one additional pawn remaining within the rook and pawns endgame and the purpose was break up after 75 strikes.
Humpy will now play the tie-breaker towards Lei in shorter format.
