FIDE women’s crown: A generational battle to unfold between Humpy, Divya

It’s not without a reason that the first-ever all Indian final in the FIDE Women’s World Cup, which begins on Saturday, is being called a generational battle. When Koneru Humpy became the first woman Grandmaster from India in 2002 at a tender age of 15 years, her challenger Divya Deshmukh wasn’t even born.

 At 38, the reticent Humpy is exactly double the age of the wannabe star Divya – and both have their own agenda in trying to be the first from India to wear the title.  However, when Humpy shrugged off China’s Lei Tingjie in the semi-final via tie-break on Thursday, it had already set up a number of firsts for Indian chess. Apart from having an Indian champion, the pair have already qualified for the Candidates tournament next year.

 The Candidates is an eight-player joust to decide the challenger to the women’s world champion. At least three other players like Vaishali Rameshbabu, Harika Dronavalli and Vantika Agrawal also have further chances to qualify for the Candidates in the coming months like at the FIDE Grand Swiss or through other avenues. The last Candidates in Toronto had Humpy and Vaishali qualifying – a headcount which has already been matched and can now be bettered.

“This is one of the happiest moments for Indian chess fans. The title is coming to India for sure,” Humpy told FIDE website in an interview after her win. “In the final, it will be a tough game for Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament.”

Humpy, easily the biggest achiever among sportswoman from Andhra Pradesh before the emergence of Sania Mirza or Saina Nehwal, has been showing a resurgence since last year after going easy over the past few years to focus on her daughter and family life. She skipped the Chess Olympiad last year where India men and women had notched a historic double, but had been hitting the headlines since then – winning the FIDE World Rapid Championship title in December last year, her second after 2019.

Breaking down Humpy’s semi-final win, Vishy Anand said on his X handle: “The tiebreak between Humpy and Tingjie ended in a duel of nerves given the huge stakes involved. Humpy managed to compose herself and come back into the match after the first setback and then won the last two games to go through. Incredible resilience and after her World Rapid win as well as her shared first place in the Pune Grand Prix, a remarkable World Cup to get another Candidates spot. Now she will face Divya Deshmukh to decide the World Cup winner. Indian fans can rejoice.”

Final: The FAQs
The final will begin on Saturday, July 26 with Game 1, followed by Game 2 on Sunday. If needed, tie-breaks will be played on Monday, July 28.The winner of the event will receive $50,000 ( Rs 41.6 lakhs) while the runner-up will take home $35,000 (Rs 29.1 lakhs).

Match Format: Each player will have 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. A 30-second increment per move will be added from move one.

If the match is tied after two classical games, tie-breaks will follow: 

1. Two rapid games of 10 minutes + 10-second increment.

2. If still tied, two 5-minute + 3-second increment games.

3. If required, two blitz games of 3 minutes + 2-second increment.

4. If needed, 3+2 blitz games will continue until there is a winner.