The Indian women chess masters will continue to keep the country's flag flying at the on-going FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 at Batumi, Georgia.
International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Apart from Tan, top seed Tingjie Lei of China also made it to the semifinals at the expense of Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia.
Koneru Humpy's non-participation in the event has not hampered the team's chances much as Vaishali has jumped significantly in rankings and is a force to reckon with in the women's circle.
Grandmaster D Harika missed out on some chances to settle for a draw with Georgia's Sopiko Guramishvili, while Padmini Rout survived a scare before enforcing a draw with China's Tan Zhongyi in the first game of the third round of World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
Grandmaster D Harika bowed out of the world championship after playing a draw in must-win second game with former Bulgarian world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the semifinals, which she lost 0.5-1.5 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Grandmaster D Harika will lock horns with Zhao Xue of China in the quarter-finals of the World Women's Chess Championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Having reached the last eight stage, Harika meets the biggest challenge in the championship and if she wins this match she can prove to be a very tough competitor for the other opponents.
Grandmaster D Harika's title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semi-final at World Women's chess championship in Khanty, Mansiysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well in the first game and went down rather easily.
Grandmaster D Harika came up with a spectacular performance in the tiebreak games to beat Zhao Xue of China and enter the last four stage in the World Women chess championship in Khanty Mansiysk (Russia).
Grandmaster D Harika scored the only win of the day for the side as India edged past Greece 2.5-1.5 in the seventh round to stay in medal contention in the World women team chess championship in Mardin, Turkey.
India asserted its supremacy in chess by winning three gold medals in the rapid mixed team event and rapid individual events at the second Asian Indoor Games in Macau on Saturday.
The Indian woman GM beat Maka Purtseladze of Georgia and moved to joint-second position after the penultimate round in the World Junior Girls' Chess Championship.
The top seeded Indian was beaten by Jolanta Zawadzka of Poland in the 11th round of the World Junior girls' chess championship.
D Harika drew with Gu Xiaobing of China in the 11th round of the World Junior Chess Championship
The Indian Woman Grandmaster is joint-fifth after the seventh round in the World Junior girls' chess championship.
The two Grandmasters have 3.5 points each after four rounds in the National 'A' men's chess championship.
Harika had carried the Indian hopes nicely till the tie-breaker of the third round. However, she got a jolt in the first game of the rapid tie-break where both players had 25 minutes on their clock.
FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich said the chess world was moving online which would help the sport reach its full potential.
After the first game against the same opponent ended in a draw, Harika was with black pieces in the second and she employed a French defence and Kosteniuk did not have many answers.
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands. Settling for his sixth draw in nine games, Anand took his tally to five points and remains joint-sixth in the 14 players, 13-round tournament.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle in his first open tournament in 23 years as he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of French Grandmaster Adrien Demuth in the fifth round of the masters section of Gibraltar chess festival in Gibraltar on Sunday.
Back to the Olympiad after a gap of 12 years, Anand was precise in calculation and brilliant in judgement giving away nothing to Ragger who was all at sea defending a difficult position out of the opening on Tuesday evening.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
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