International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh on Wednesday entered history by defeating former world champion Zonggi Tan by bringing a storm in the final of the Fid Women’s World Chess Cup. With this victory, Divya also became the first Indian to qualify for the tournament of women candidates to decide the next challenger for world champion Venjun Joo. Divya won the second game of the semi-finals to seal the Mini-Match 1.5–0.5. This was another amazing performance of the 19 -year -old, which had already excluded Chinese second seed Zoner Zhu and the compatriot Grandmaster D Harika in the earlier era. Playing with white pieces against Tan, Divya opted for alpin variation in Sicilian Defense and showed her sharp position. A well-exchanged exchange of bishops for knights led a favorable endge with an additional piece. Although Tan had a possibility in the middle game, the former world champion lost his hold on the post. As the game progressed, Divya emerged with two additional pawns and a outside pieces. However, the match saw several twists, before it would eventually get it after the 101-Move fight.
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In another semi -finals, Konu Hampi played a draw against China’s top seed Tingji Lei. Playing white against Slavic Defense, the Hampi exchanged for variation. The game saw the early queen exchanges and Hampi managed to get a bishop pair against Lei’s knights. Despite having an additional pawn in a shift and pawn endgeam, the situation remained balanced, and the game ended in a draw after 75 tricks. Hampi will now face Lei in Tie-Breck to decide the second finalist.
