Zhu Jiner bounced back to beat Divya Deshmukh in Game 2, taking their FIDE Women’s World Cup pre-quarterfinal to tiebreaks in Batumi, Georgia, on Thursday.
Other Indians in action – R. Vaishali, Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli – also headed to tiebreaks after drawing both their games in their respective last-16 matches.
Divya, playing with white pieces, had dominated second-seeded Chinese Zhu for a stunning win on Wednesday and needed only a draw with black to progress to the quarterfinals.
However, she fell just short of achieving it when she blew up her position in the middle game arising out of a not-so-formal Scotch Opening. Divya, to her credit, tried her best but salvaging the resulting endgame was almost impossible.
Vaishali, who also had black pieces, played out another draw against Kazakhstan’s Meruert Kamalidenova.
Experienced Humpy and Harika both drew with white pieces against Switzerland’s Alexandra Kosteniuk and Russia’s Kateryna Lagno respectively.
Meanwhile, three Chinese cruised into the quarterfinals. Lei Tingjie had little trouble getting a draw against Umida Omonova of Uzbekistan, Song Yuxin achieved the same result against Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia and Tan Zhongyi beat Yulia Osmak by drawing the second game comfortably.
The biggest surprise of the day came from local player Nana Dzagnidze who defeated Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine and showed her the exit door.
The World Cup offers three spots to the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, set to happen in the first half of 2026.
All four Indians will play Tiebreaks on Friday, July 18, from 4:35PM IST.
(With inputs from PTI)
