Heading into the quarterfinals of the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025, China’s Yuxin Song had already made waves, eliminating some top contenders to set up a clash against India’s Koneru Humpy.
After prevailing over India’s WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Estonia’s IM Mai Narva with expected wins in the first two rounds, Yuxin transformed into a giant slayer, ousting Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk, a multiple-time World Champion (in faster formats), before dispatching Georgia’s IM Lela Javakhishvili in the fourth round.
It seemed as if Yuxin would prove to be another tricky customer, this time for veteran Indian, but Humpy took a giant step ahead in pursuit of her maiden World Cup title after making light work of Yuxin’s defence, which had troubled some experienced players.
The India No. 1 was playing whites in the first leg for a place in the semifinal in Georgia’s Batumi on Saturday. By any means, Humpy’s start was slow. By just the 13th move, Yuxin had already gained a minute and 46 seconds on the clock on top of the allotted 90 minutes while blitzing out her moves in the opening and was ahead by nearly 34 minutes after Humpy was down to less than an hour, thinking deeply about her early moves.
By just the 13th move, Yuxin had already gained a minute and 46 seconds on the clock on top of the allotted 90 minutes while blitzing out her moves in the opening and was ahead by nearly 34 minutes after Humpy was down to less than an hour, thinking deeply about her early moves. (Photo credit: Anna Shtourman/FIDE)
Getting caught in an opening preparation is any player’s worst nightmare in the game of chess. One might rather get outplayed in the endgame than let the opponent dictate the terms from the beginning. Humpy knew what she had to do. She allowed Yuxin to go ahead on the clock while making accurate moves, asking tough questions to Yuxin with each passing move in the Chinese’s preferred opening choice.
At this point, Humpy had already neutralised Yuxin’s time edge, and when the 19-year-old Chinese castled kingside on the 18th move, it became clear that it was Humpy’s game to lose from here on. She went for a quick exchange of minor pieces and forced her counterpart to a queen exchange, essentially killing her last hopes.
The 38-year-old was clinical in a winning rook endgame and converted the position easily while being two pawns up. All she needs is a draw on Sunday in the second leg to qualify for the semis.
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In the other quarterfinal, R. Vaishali was rock solid against World Championship challenger Tan Zhongyi with white pieces. Tan had lost to compatriot Ju Wenjun in the recently concluded World Championship.
Vaishali, who looked dicey in her fourth-round tiebreak against Kazakhstan’s Meruert Kamalidenova, brought her A-game against Tan.
She was an equal match to Tan’s play and had 97.4 accuracy to the Chinese’s 97.6. If only anything, it was Vaishali who had some initiative early on in the position, which appeared to favour the light pieces.
In the Giuoco Piano Game, both players agreed to end the game in a draw via threefold repetition after 72 moves, which was also the longest game of the day.
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There wasn’t much brewing in an all-Indian clash between Divya Deshmukh and Harika Dronavalli as the duo played a rather uneventful draw and were the first to finish their game. Divya was playing with white and offered a draw in a fairly equal position after the 31st move, and Harika, after a little deliberation, accepted it.
The other quarterfinal between local favourite Nana Dzagnidze and World No. 3 China’s Lei Tingjie ended in chaos, with Dzagnidze losing on time after an apparent oversight.
Already in a hopeless position, Dzagnidze believed she had reached the 40-move mark — where players receive an additional 30 minutes for the rest of the game — and kept calculating while her clock ran out of time. The confusion arose after Nana missed a line on her scoresheet, while Lei accidentally recorded a move twice, leaving both players under the impression they had completed 40 moves.
A bewildered Dzagnidze engaged in a lengthy discussion with the arbiters, but the ruling stood, handing Lei a 1-0 lead in the match.
