FIDE Women’s World Cup: Harika, Divya, Humpy, Vaishali through to quarters

Grandmasters Koneru Humpy, D Harika and R Vaishali and International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup, scripting history as India became the first country to have four players in the tournament’s last-eight stage.

All four women won their tiebreaks to advance to the last eight stage.

Humpy gave a glimpse of her old self looking assured and calm as she overcame Alexandra Kosteniuk, who is now representing Switzerland after switching from Russia.

Humpy won in the first round itself which was a testament to her superiority over other rivals. She defeated Kosteniuk won with a 1.5-0.5 margin.

Divya continued to punch above her weight, stunning second seed China’s Jiner Zhu 1.5-0.5. She won the first game with black and held a draw in the return leg with white, showcasing composure beyond her years.

That left Harika on the toes as she lost the first game as black against another Russian Kateryna Lagno. But she struck back as white to reach the second tiebreaker.

The Indian then drew the first game as black and pounced on her chances with white to move to the quarterfinals.

Vishali, on the other hand, defeated Kazakhistan’s Meruert Kamalidenova.

With all four Indian women into the quarterfinals it has now become a race between India and China as to who would annex the Cup and make to the top three that guarantees a place in to the women’s Candidates that will determine the challenger for the next Women’s World Championship.

While Humpy and Vaishali will next face China’s Song Yuxin and Tan Zhongyi respectively, Divya will take on Harika in an all Indian quarterfinal.

It may be recalled that the lone Georgian Nana Dzagnidze is also into the quarters with some exceptional play thus far.