FIDE Women’s World Cup: Koneru Humpy set to face Divya Deshmukh in title clash

Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh

In a first, the FIDE Women's World Cup will have a winner from India as Koneru Humpy will lock horns with Divya Deshmukh in the grand finale here on Saturday.

On pure experience of playing big games and the ability to maintain her composure in the longer format of the game, Humpy goes into the final as the favourite against compatriot Deshmukh.

Humpy held her nerve to score a come-from-behind victory in the semi-finals over Tingjie Lei of China (via tiebreaker) on Thursday, while Deshmukh defeated former world champion Zhongyi Tan, also of China, in the second game of the last-four stage match.

"It's one of the happiest moments for chess fans because now the title will go to India for sure. But of course, as a player, tomorrow [Saturday] will be quite a tough game. Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament," Humpy told the FIDE website.

At half the age of Humpy, International Master Deshmukh has already stunned as many as three players ranked in top ten in the event, and her dynamic game-play along with her ability to think on her feet, could give her an edge.

Saturday's final will also be played over two classical games and if the results stand at 1-1, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

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