Divya Wins Women's World Cup, Becomes GM, and Qualifies for Candidates

In a storybook ending, IM Divya Deshmukh became the first Indian player ever to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup, defeating Indian GM Humpy Koneru 2½–1½ after Monday’s tie-breaks. The win directly grants Divya the GM title, making the 19-year-old the fifth Indian woman to earn the GM title and the second youngest, behind only Humpy herself! Both players have also qualified for the FIDE Women’s World Championship Candidates Tournament.

Divya Deshmukh entered as the 15th-seeded player, but won the World Cup by defeating the second-, third-, and fourth-highest-rated players (Photo courtesy of Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

The all-Indian final came about after fourth-seeded Humpy defeated top-seeded Chinse GM Lei Tingjie 5–3 in a back-and-forth match, while Divya defeated third-seeded Chinese GM Tan Zhongyi 1½–½. Tan defeated Lei 1½–½ in the match for third, netting her the final Candidates qualification spot from the World Cup. Full results are available here.

Of the final four, Humpy Koneru (L) and Tan Zhongyi (second from right) also qualified for the Candidates, leaving only Lei Tingjie (R) out (Photo courtesy of Andrei Anosov/FIDE)

Divya earned $50,000 for her victory, with Humpy taking home $35,000 for second, Tan $25,000 for third, and Lei $20,000 for fourth. Below are the key moments from the final rounds of the Women’s World Cup, with annotations by WGM Sabina Foisor.

As you’ll notice, many of these positions reached complex, instructive endgames. Keep an eye out on Chess Life Online and our YouTube channel for even more of these positions in future videos and puzzle packs from Foisor.

The two semi-final matches could not have gone more differently. In Divya’s match against Tan, the first game was drawn uneventfully, while the second saw Divya grind out an imbalanced rook-and-pawn endgame to clinch the match in the classical portion.

While Divya and Tan each enjoyed a day off to prepare for their first- and third-place matches, respectively, Lei and Humpy had to battle through a pair of rapid tie-breaks, fast-rapid tie-breaks, and then blitz tie-breaks before a winner could finally be declared.

Humpy – Lei proved to be one of the most back-and-forth matches of the entire tournament (Photo courtesy of Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

But, before it petered out to a draw, their second classical game could have gone very differently:

After two more draws in the first tie-break, Lei struck first blood in the first game of the second tie-break:

Lei needed only a draw to clinch the match, but what followed was a nerve-wracking slugfest:

After mounting this comeback, Humpy took control of the third and final tie-break, winning the match 5–3.

On Friday, a victorious Humpy reminded us why she is the reigning Women's World Rapid champion (Photo courtesy of Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

It’s worth noting, however, that after this marathon playoff, both Lei and Humpy lost their following matches. If given a choice between a day off and a six-game rollercoaster of a tiebreak, I suspect they both would have chosen the former.

Tan's victory in the second classical game earned the defending Candidates champion a return trip (Photos courtesy of Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

In the match for the third and final Candidates spot, the internet was ablaze when Lei offered Tan a draw in what the engine declared a substantially better position for Lei! Despite the “eval bar” swaying Lei’s way, it was not obvious how she was supposed to make progress, however. But she surely regrets not having chosen to play on a bit longer after Tan’s patience was rewarded the next day:

During the second classical game of the title fight (pun intended: Divya would earn the GM title with a win, after all), it briefly looked like Divya was going to dispatch her fourth consecutive GM and clinch the title without even having to go to tie-breaks.

After a draw, the second rapid game started off peacefully enough. By the time the players came close to move 40, the commentators were already speculating on what adjustments the players would make for the second tie-break. But Divya was not content with letting her opponent off the hook so easily:

In a tournament riddled with challenging — and sometimes downright cruel — rook endgames, it’s hard to imagine a better game to cap off the three weeks of play in Batumi.