Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Koneru Humpy stormed into the semi-finals of FIDE World Cup after a rock-solid draw against China’s Yuxin Song. Having already won the first classical game, Humpy only needed a half-point to go through—and she made it look like business as usual.
Humpy’s opponent came out swinging with the trendy Jobava London setup, hoping to unsettle the veteran. But the Indian Grandmaster wasn’t in the mood to oblige. She equalised quickly, gave up a couple of pawns for dynamic play, and coolly worked her way back into a balanced endgame. Song huffed and puffed for 53 moves, but Humpy never blinked. One point in the bank, and a semifinal ticket in the bag.
Elsewhere, the all-Indian quarterfinal between D Harika and Divya Deshmukh played out like a well-matched arm wrestle—no clear winner in either game. With two draws on the board, they’ll now head to Monday’s rapid and blitz tiebreakers. One of them will join Humpy in the final four, guaranteeing India two semifinalists in Baku.
However, the campaign ended in heartbreak For R Vaishali. She had her chances against former world champion Tan Zhongyi, especially after a promising middlegame. But one slip was all it took for Tan to pounce. The Chinese Grandmaster tightened the screws, and Vaishali couldn’t recover in time. Top seed Lei Tingjie also advanced, dispatching Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze to complete a Chinese one-two in the semifinals.
