The 2025 FIDE Womens World Cup, taking place in Batumi, Georgia, has turned out to be a remarkable event for Indian chess fans. All four Indian players left in the tournament have advanced to the quarterfinals, marking a significant achievement on the world stage.
The Indian Group, GM Humpy Koneru, GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, and IM Divya Deshmukh, showed great resilience as they had to fight hard in the Round 4 tiebreaks to secure their spots. Earlier matches had been tightly contested, with many drawn games pushing the deciders into faster-paced tiebreak battles. But the Indian players managed their nerves well and came through in these critical moments.
Who Defeated Who
Divya Deshmukh’s performance stood out as she upset the Chinese world number two, GM Zhu Jiner, in the first game and then held her ground in the tiebreaks despite losing the second classical game. Humpy Koneru drew against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk but sealed the win in the rapid tiebreak.
Harika Dronavalli bounced back from a draw to defeat GM Kateryna Lagno in the following minutes format. Finally, Vaishali Rameshbabu edged past IM Meruert Kamalidenova in an intense five-minute blitz fight that went down to the wire.
All Indian Clash In Quarterfinals
With these wins, the quarterfinal lineup features a strong Indian presence. The pairings set up an interesting face-off: Divya Deshmukh will play against Harika Dronavalli, making it an all-Indian clash in the top eight. Meanwhile, Vaishali Rameshbabu is matched against GM Tan Zhongyi of China, and Humpy Koneru takes on IM Song Yuxin. The last quarterfinal spot is contested between Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze and Chinese GM Lei Tingjie.
The 2025 FIDE Womens World Cup is more than just a contest for the title and prize money; it also carries the chance to qualify for the next Women’s Candidates tournament, which eventually decides the challenger for the Women’s World Championship. So, the stakes are high for everyone involved.
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