FIDE Women's World Cup: Koneru Humpy pulls off thrilling win, to face Divya Deshmukh in final
India's Koneru Humpy secured a spot in the FIDE Women's World Cup final after defeating China's Tingjie Lei in a thrilling semi-final match that stretched to eight games on Thursday.
The intense battle saw Humpy emerge victorious with a final score of 5-3, setting up an all-Indian final against
Divya Deshmukh
.
As a result, India are assured of gold and silver medal from the FIDE Women's World Cup - a first. Additionally, both Humpy and Deshmukh have qualified for Candidates Tournament. One of Tingjie Lei or former World Champion Tan Zhongyi will take another spot for the Candidates when they meet in the third-place contest.
The semi-final began with two classical games between Humpy and Tingjie, both ending in draws without either player gaining an advantage. The deadlock continued into the tiebreak phase, where the first two rapid games also resulted in draws, leaving the score tied at 2-2.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
The breakthrough came in the third rapid game of the tiebreak, with Tingjie capitalising on a mistake by Humpy in the endgame to take the lead.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years
IC Markets
Learn More
Undo
This put the Chinese grandmaster ahead 3-2 in the match.
Facing elimination, Humpy displayed resilience with the white pieces in the next game. She executed a strong performance to defeat Tingjie and level the match at 3-3, forcing the contest into blitz games.
The first blitz game proved decisive for Humpy, who started with the white pieces and established a strong position from the opening. The game evolved into a complex middle-game with both players having approximately 23 seconds remaining on their clocks.
Despite time pressure and multiple blunders from both sides, Humpy maintained her composure to win the first blitz game, taking the lead in the match at 4-3. She followed this success by winning the second blitz game with black pieces, securing the match with a final score of 5-3.
For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the
India vs England Test match
here.
Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
20 minutes ago
- NDTV
Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja Engage In Tense Chat As 'Handshake' Row Hits 4th Test
Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja engaged in a tense chat following the end of the fourth Test encounter between England and India at Old Trafford on Sunday. The tensions began when Stokes offered to end the match in a draw with 15 overs to go on Day 5. However, the offer was declined as both Jadeja and Washington Sundar were close to their centuries. Both batters went on to reach their respective milestones but they were targetted with taunts by Stokes and Co. Once the match ended, Stokes did not shake hands with Jadeja and Washington at first and got into a chat with the all-rounder. However, he ultimately shook hands with both batters as they left the field. Ben Stokes refused to shake hands with Jadeja & Washi⁰~ What's your take on this #INDvsENG #INDvsEND — Kavya Maran (@Kavya_Maran_SRH) July 27, 2025 Stokes, who was visibly irritated after India refused to declare for a draw, said he was not going to risk his first string bowlers given the result of the match was decided heading into the final hour. Stokes offered to shake hands and declare the fourth Test during the final drinks break but with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar nearing their well deserved hundreds, India made England bowl till the duo reached their milestones. However, Stokes employed Harry Brook and Joe Root as the two bowlers, allowing his pace battery to rest. "All the hard work was done by India and there was only one result ... I wasn't going to risk any of my bowlers, (Liam) Dawsey had bowled a lot of overs and his body was tiring. I wasn't going to risk any of my front line bowlers,' said Stokes in the post-game presentation. The England skipper scored a century, whilst also claiming five wickets, but claimed he would 'give this all back to get the result that we wanted.' After India lost the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in the opening over, all hopes seemed lost for the visitors. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill stood tall on Day 4 and navigated through the day before Sundar and Jadeja put on a 223-run stand and refused to let the game slip away from them. Despite the animated moment towards the end, Stokes tipped his hat towards the duo and admitted England threw everything at them but they absorbed the pressure well. "Heap load of credit for the way Washington and Jadeja played, got to give them a lot of credit. to do what they did for that position. It's been a back and forth series so far, throwing punches at each other, great credit to the way India have kept fighting. We threw absolutely everything at them but they were able to absorb the pressure."
Hindustan Times
20 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
England vs Spain: UEFA Women's Euro 2025 prize money - How much prize money will winners take home
The UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final between England and Spain will take place in Basel, Switzerland's St. Jakob-Park on Sunday. Spain's defender #07 Olga Carmona (L) and England's forward #11 Lauren Hemp challenge for the ball during the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final football match between England and Spain at the St. Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel, on July 27, 2025. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)(AFP) The Lionesses lost 2-1 in Sydney in the 2023 Women's World Cup final, which is being replayed here. It also mimics the men's European Championship final from the previous year, in which Spain won 2-1. Sarina Wiegman's team is attempting to become just the second country in history to secure back-to-back Euros titles after making it to three consecutive major finals. They are viewed as the underdogs versus La Roja, who have grown to be a formidable force in the women's game. The winning team will also receive a sizable portion of a record-breaking amount of prize money this year. Also Read: US-owned Irish soccer club Drogheda barred from Conference League by UEFA ownership rules What we know about Women's Euro 2025 prize money The incredible €41 million prize money for this year's Women's Euros is five times greater than the €8 million awarded in 2017 and more than double the €16 million awarded in 2022. About 70% of the entire 2025 budget is allocated to the fixed €1.8 million participation fee for each team taking part in the event, which is three times the amount of money allocated in 2022. The final 30% goes toward rewards for performance, with teams getting €50,000 for a draw and €100,000 for a win in the group stages. As the knockout stages progress, the amounts rise incrementally, reaching €1.75 million for each finalist. The 2025 tournament's club benefits package broke the previous record, rising from €4.5 million in 2022 to €9 million in 2025, making it the biggest of its kind in women's football. How much will Euro 2025 winners take home? The final winners will have access to a maximum reward money of €5.1 million, more than twice the €2 million jackpot that was potentially awarded in 2022. If Spain wins the final on Sunday, they will receive this amount because they have won both of their elimination matches and all three of their group games. Given that they lost to France in their opening match, England would receive a little less.
The Hindu
20 minutes ago
- The Hindu
FIDE Women's World Cup final: Divya holds Humpy, tiebreaker next
International Master Divya Deshmukh gave nothing away and held higher-ranked Grandmaster and compatriot Koneru Humpy to an easy draw to force the final of the Women's Chess World Cup into the tie-breaker, Batumi on Sunday (July 27, 2025). The tie-breaker, which will be a series of shorter-duration games, will be played on Monday to determine the winner. Divya, who did not make utmost use of her promising opening in the first game on Saturday, was far more composed against a Queen pawn opening by transposition employed by her opponent in game 2. Humpy got the optical advantage with her pair of bishops out of the opening but Divya knew that if she placed her knights perfectly, white will not be able to create many problems. As it happened in the game after two minor pieces, the pair of rooks also changed hands and the queen-and-minor-piece endgame only offered little hope. Humpy tried to make some headway with a pawn sacrifice in the endgame but in the process her bishop pair was gone, and though a pawn plus, Divya had to cover some weaknesses. After the dust settled, Humpy recovered the pawn and Divya repeated the position through checks to sign peace in 34 moves. The tiebreaker will see two games of 15 minutes each with a 10-second increment after every move. If the scores are still level, the players will play another set of 10-minute games with a 10-second increment. If the tie doesn't get resolved, it will be two more games of five minutes with three-second increment after every move. Should the deadlock continue, one more set of three-minute games with a two-second increment per move will be played to decide the winner. During the post-game interaction with the broadcaster, Divya seemed upset with the mistakes she made in game 1 on Saturday, where she said she invariably kept making the wrong choices. "I was quite disappointed with the first game obviously because I saw everything and I just always ended up making the wrong choice, and it was quite a pity. The first game didn't go my way and even though it was a draw it kind of felt like a loss. So, I was just trying to recover and today was considerably easier," said Divya. "I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. I was trying to see if there was a win, but I just missed this Queen b8. And I was confused if I should go g6 or g5 and I think g5 was better because this Queen b8 doesn't work against it." Asked how a player like her forget about the previous game and focus on the next game, she said in a game like chess it was "absolutely necessary" to come out with a fresh mindset. "Otherwise, you're not going to perform well in the next game. I just tell myself that I have the rest of my life to be sad about it. So just don't be sad today and then we can be sad about it afterwards." The 19-year-old from Nagpur, who could become a Grandmaster if she wins the title on Monday, said she will try to give it her best shot in the tie-breaker. "Yeah, of course. I think I'm going to give my best. She's (Humpy), of course, a really strong player, but I'm hoping things go my way." Arjuna Awardee Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay said Divya played the opening quickly and seemed better prepared but a weak 24th move saw the youngster get into some trouble. "It was a comparatively quieter play (compared to game 1). Humpy, playing white, began with English opening but the game was soon transposed to the Semi Tarrasch Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined," said Thipsay. Divya played the opening quickly and seemed to be better prepared. On move 9, Humpy had a choice of getting a better pawn structure or getting a bishop for a knight. Humpy chose to go for a bishop, which didn't turn out to be very productive," Thipsay opined. "In fact, Divya correctly gave away her second bishop for her other knight and further simplified the game by exchanging all the rooks by move 20. Humpy created chances by sacrificing a pawn on move 23 and created some serious threats when Divya made a weak 24th move. "However, a slight inaccuracy by Humpy on move 28 allowed Divya to improve the position of her queen and force a draw by perpetual check on move 34," added Thipsay. Results: Koneru Humpy (Ind) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind).
