Koneru Humpy Shines at FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup Quarterfinals

Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy delivered an impressive victory against China's Yuxin Song in the first game of the quarterfinals at the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup. Displaying strategic brilliance, Humpy outmaneuvered Song who played the black side of an English opening, transitioning effectively into a Catalan structure.

Humpy's offensive in the central middle game significantly disrupted Song's pawn structure with a pawn sacrifice, despite Song's efforts to find stability. Humpy advanced her pawns further, eventually securing a two-pawn advantage. The game extended to 53 moves, with Song unable to recover.

In other quarterfinal action, Divya Deshmukh and D Harika's all-Indian clash concluded in a solid draw, while China's top seed Tingjie Lei triumphed over Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. R Vaishali also settled for a draw against Zhongyi Tan. The tournament offers a total prize pool of USD 691250, including three coveted spots in the next women's Candidates' Tournament.

(With inputs from agencies.)