FIDE Women's World Cup: Koneru Humpy, Divya Deshmukh reach pre-quarters

India's Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh inched a step closer to Candidates qualification as they made their way into pre-quarterfinals of the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Sunday.

Playing with the black pieces, Humpy – India's first female Grandmaster – registered a 44-move win over Poland's Klaudia Kulon.

The Indian veteran took advantage of having a bishop pair on board in the middlegame and forced an error out of her lower rated opponent. Once Kulon blundered by pushing her white pawn to the g5 square in the 32nd move, Humpy had a clear advantage.

The 38-year-old made no mistakes and registered a win to book her spot in the final 16.

Humpy will now face the winner of tie-breaks between Alexandra Kosteniuk and Meri Arabidze in the fourth round.

Meanwhile the young Deshmukh, who had won the first game against Teodora Injac of Serbia on Saturday, played out a draw.

Playing with the black pieces, the 19-year-old from Nagpur was never really in trouble as the two players agreed to a draw after 30 moves. It was enough to propel Deshmukh to the next round.

Vantika Agrawal loses

Elsewhere, Vantika Agrawal fell to a loss with black pieces at the hands of the experienced Kateryna Lagno.

Having won the first game with white pieces the day before, Agrawal needed just a draw to advance to the pre-quarters. The Indian, however, fell into an inferior position right out of the opening and could never recover.

She resigned after 43 moves and will now have to make her way through the tiebreak play-offs once again.

On the other hand, Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali Rameshbabu both played out a second successive draw against Stavroula Tsolakidou and Carissa Yip respectively.

While Dronavalli played out a solid draw, Vaishali struggled to convert her chances despite having a pleasant position.

Both of them will also play the tie-breaks on Monday.