India’s domination of world chess is set to reach another level on Saturday when Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh clash in the final of the Fide Women’s World Cup.
In the last one-odd year, India have had gold for both the men’s and women’s teams in the Chess Olympiad before D. Gukesh overcame all challenges to be crowned the world champion. On Saturday in the Georgian city of Batumi, whoever wins, it will be a victory for India.
It’s the first in the event’s history that two Indians are facing each other in the final. Both Humpy and Divya have qualified for the Women’s Candidates tournament next year after reaching the final.
On pure experience of playing big games, Humpy goes into the final as the favourite against young compatriot Divya.
Humpy held her nerves to score a come-from-behind victory in the semi-finals over Tingjie Lei of China in the tie-breaker on Thursday, while Divya defeated former world champion Zhongyi Tan — also of China — in the other last-four stage match.
Grandmaster Humpy, 38, was the winner of the world women’s rapid tournament and also tied for first at the women’s grand prix in recent times. She has proved yet again that age is just a number. Her grit and determination has not faded one bit in the past many years.
While Humpy has the ability to sit through long games without making mistakes, Divya possesses an attacking style. It is going to be a battle of wits in the final.
“It’s one of the happiest moments for chess fans because now the title will go to India for sure. But of course, as a player, tomorrow (Saturday) will be quite a tough game as well — Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament,” Humpy told Fide website.
At half the age of Humpy, International Master Divya has already stunned as many as three players ranked in the top 10 in the event. Her first victim was second seed Jiner Zhu of China, before ousting D. Harika. The 19-year-old Nagpur-based Divya then beat Tan in the semis.
“I just need some sleep and some food, these days have been so anxious for me,” Divya said after entering the final.
“I think I could have played much better. I was winning at a certain point and then it got complicated. I think I messed up in the middlegame and that I should have had a much smoother win,” she said about her semi-final match.
Saturday’s final will also be played over two classical games and if the results stand at 1-1, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
The winner gets $50,000 in prize money, while the runner-up will take home $35,000.
For Indian chess, the takeaway will be far more.
Live streaming from 4.30pm IST on FIDE’s YouTube channel