Mumbai, July 14: Woman Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh and the country's first woman to become a GM, Koneru Humpy made it to the last-16 of the FIDE Women's World Cup in contrasting fashion here. Divya, a point ahead, needed a draw which she got against Teodora Injac of Serbia, while Humpy had to work hard to oust Kulon Klaudia of Poland. With two Indians sealing their spots in the last-16, the other three in the competition -- D Harika, Vantika Agrawal and R. Vaishali -- too can make the grade but it all depends on how they perform in the tiebreaker. FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025: Vantika Agrawal, PV Nandhidhaa and Padmini Rout Sail Through, K Priyanka Makes It to Tiebreaker in First Round.

Grandmaster Harika played back-to-back draws with Tsolakidou Stavroula of Greece to keep herself in contention for the pre-quarterfinals, while Vantika's first-round victory celebrations over Kateryna Lagno of Russia were put on hold as the Indian lost the return game to make the scorecard level. While Vantika, Harika and Vaishali have an uphill task in the first set of tie-break games, they can still make it to the round of 16. Vantika Agrawal Held To Draw by Lela Shohradeva in FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025.

With USD 6,91,250 at stake, the event promises a purse of USD 50,000 for the winner. In addition, the top-three will qualify for the next Candidates tournament, which will decide the contender to Ju Wenjun, the reigning women's world champion.

Complete Results After Round 2 Games: Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) lost to Lei Tingjie (Chn) 0-2; Zhu Jiner (Chn) beat Aleksandra Maltsveskaya (Pol) 2-0; Irina Bulmaga (Rou) lost to Tan Zhongyi (Chn) 0.5-2.5; Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Kulon Klaudia (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) drew with Yixing Song (Chn) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Vantika Agrawal lost to Kateryna Lagno (Fid) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Valentina Gunina (Fid) 1-1 goes to tie-break; Bella Khotenashvili (Geo) lost to Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr) 0-2; D. Harika (Ind) drew with Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre); Carissa Yip (USA) drew with R Vaishali (Ind) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Polina Shuvalova (Fid) lost to Lela Javakhashvili (Geo) 0.5-1.5; Teodora Injac (Srb) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind) 0.5-1,5; Kaliakhmet Elnaz (Kaz) lost to Umida Polonova (Uzb) 0.5-1.5-0.5; Meri Arabidze (Geo) drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Osmak Yuliia (Ukr) beat Lu Miaoyi (Chn) 1.5-0,5; Kamalidenova Meruert (Kaz) beat Anna Shukhman (FID) 1,5-0.5.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)