Divya Deshmukh shocks Harika Dronavalli to enter Women’s World Cup semifinals
The semi-finals are set! Lei Tingjie vs Humpy Koneru and Tan Zhongyi vs Divya Deshmukh.
Divya Deshmukh, the young International Master from Nagpur, made headlines in Batumi. She stunned GM Harika Dronavalli with a brilliant 2-0 win in rapid tiebreaks. This victory sent her to the semifinals of the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
Divya now joins GM Humpy Koneru and top Chinese players GM Lei Tingjie and GM Tan Zhongyi in the final four. The matches start tomorrow at the Grand Bellagio venue. These games will decide which three players qualify for the prestigious Women’s Candidates Tournament. They will join GM Alexandra Goryachkina and GM Zhu Jiner, who qualified earlier through the Women’s Grand Prix.
Divya’s next challenge? Facing former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi. On the other side, Humpy Koneru takes on Lei Tingjie. Two exciting India vs China clashes await fans!
Right after Harika resigned, Divya was still emotional. In an interview with FIDE’s WIM Charlize van Zyl, she admitted, “I’m happy with how I played, but I don’t think the second game went very well.”
Divya’s rise shows a new generation stepping forward in Indian chess. With courage and composure, she’s becoming a real contender on the global stage. Could she soon fight for the Women’s World Championship title?
A closer look at the games
In the first rapid game (15+10 time control), Divya targeted Harika’s Classical Italian, Greco Gambit. Both players showed great preparation and played quickly.
“The preparation had a lot to say in this game. I’d like to thank my coach,” Divya shared.
Interestingly, Harika had seen this same position before—though with reversed colors—against Goryachkina back in 2021. Things changed on move 22. Instead of playing 22…cxd4 23.cxd4 Bb4! to regroup her bishop, Harika played 22…Qc6?. This allowed Divya to win a pawn with 23.dxc5! dxe5 24.fxe5.
Even after being a pawn down, Harika still had drawing chances. She could have tried 24…Qe6. But she blundered again with 24…Rxe5?, letting Divya’s pieces become very active.
Then came Divya’s brilliant move: 30.Bxg7! After 30…Rxg7 31.Rxg7 Qxg7, she calmly played 32.Kf1!, winning Harika’s queen.
“I thought the combination didn’t work because of 31…Kxg7, but then I saw the idea with 32.Qf4,” Divya explained.
With confidence, she turned this advantage into a win.
Second game drama
In the second rapid game, Harika needed a win. She chose the King’s Indian Attack, exchanging queens early to aim for a positional grind.
She nearly found a breakthrough. Instead of 22.Bh2, the engine suggested 22.Bxh4! Nxh4 followed by 23.f5! to isolate Divya’s knight.
Missing this, Divya placed her knight on the strong d5 square, building a fortress.
Later, Divya made a mistake. Harika could have played 63.Bf4! to force her king into the position and win. But Harika missed it and played 63.Kf3? instead, leading to a draw. Soon after, she blundered a pawn and the game ended.
Reflecting on her run so far, Divya said, “Zhu Jiner was definitely my toughest opponent so far. Winning the tiebreak against her gave me confidence for this one.”
About the 2025 Women’s World Cup
The event runs from July 6th to 28th in Batumi, Georgia. It brings together 107 of the world’s best women players from 46 federations. They compete for a $50,000 first prize and three spots in the Women’s Candidates Tournament. For full pairings and daily results, visit the official Women’s World Cup website.
Photos: Anna Shtourman, FIDE_chess
Source: FIDE CHESS NEWS
