IMAGE: Koneru Humpy. Photograph: X
Woman Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh and the country’s first woman to become a GM, Koneru Humpy made it to the last-16 of the FIDE Women’s World Cup in contrasting fashion in Batumi, Georgia, on Monday.
Divya, a point ahead, needed a draw which she got against Teodora Injac of Serbia, while Humpy had to work hard to oust Kulon Klaudia of Poland.
With two Indians sealing their spots in the last-16, the other three in the competition — D Harika, Vantika Agrawal and R. Vaishali — too can make the grade but it all depends on how they perform in the tiebreaker.
Grandmaster Harika played back-to-back draws with Tsolakidou Stavroula of Greece to keep herself in contention for the pre-quarterfinals, while Vantika’s first-round victory celebrations over Kateryna Lagno of Russia were put on hold as the Indian lost the return game to make the scorecard level.
While Vantika, Harika and Vaishali have an uphill task in the first set of tie-break games, they can still make it to the round of 16.
With US$ 6,91,250 at stake, the event promises a purse of US$50,000 for the winner. In addition, the top-three will qualify for the next Candidates tournament, which will decide the contender to Ju Wenjun, the reigning women’s world champion.
Complete results after Round 2 games: Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) lost to Lei Tingjie (Chn) 0-2; Zhu Jiner (Chn) beat Aleksandra Maltsveskaya (Pol) 2-0; Irina Bulmaga (Rou) lost to Tan Zhongyi (Chn) 0.5-2.5; Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Kulon Klaudia (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) drew with Yixing Song (Chn) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Vantika Agrawal lost to Kateryna Lagno (Fid) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Valentina Gunina (Fid) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Bella Khotenashvili (Geo) lost to Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr) 0-2; D. Harika (Ind) drew with Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre); Carissa Yip (USA) drew with R Vaishali (Ind) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Polina Shuvalova (Fid) lost to Lela Javakhashvili (Geo) 0.5-1.5; Teodora Injac (Srb) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind) 0.5-1,5; Kaliakhmet Elnaz (Kaz) lost to Umida Polonova (Uzb) 0.5-1.5-0.5; Meri Arabidze (Geo) drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Osmak Yuliia (Ukr) beat Lu Miaoyi (Chn) 1.5-0,5; Kamalidenova Meruert (Kaz) beat Anna Shukhman (FID) 1,5-0.5.
