Grandmaster Koneru Humpy held her nerves to score a come-from-behind victory over China's TIngjie Lei in the tiebreaker to set up an all-Indian summit clash against Divya Deshmukh at the FIDE Women's World Cup here on Thursday (July 24, 2025).
Humpy will clash with Divya Deshmukh in the final starting after a day’s rest starting on Saturday. With Humpy winning, both she and Divya have now qualified for the Women’s candidates’ tournament next year.
Having drawn the first two games in the normal time control Humpy had to settle up with another 1-1 draw in the tiebreaker that comprised two games with 15 minutes for both players with an increment.
After two draws here, Humpy had to really work hard in the next set of tiebreak games that had 10 minutes for both players with another increment. Lei got in the lad early in the set of these two games and Humpy erred in the middle game to lose a pawn and get in to a difficult endgame.
What followed was pretty logical as Lei got in command and even thought the position was closer to a draw Humpy did not find the best defensive resources to equalize.
Humpy lost another pawn on the queen side and despite the presence of opposite coloured Bishops in the endgame, white’s influence on both flanks tilted things decisively in her favour.
It was a win on demand wherein Humpy dominated the next game. The Queen pawn opening was good enough wherein Humpy was in command right from the word go.
Humpy won with her superior technique and also her absolute determination to turn the tide in her favour from any given position.
In the third set of tie-break games Humpy drew white in the first game and crushed Lei in all departments of the game.
Winning this game meant that just a draw was needed for her to get in to the final and in the return game Humpy was at her technical best as she won again out of an Italian opening.
If there is one title that has eluded Humpy it’s the World Cup and world championship. Apart that Humpy has won everything under the sun.