Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy face off in Game 1 of the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup Final in Batumi.
The first game of the late 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup Final in Batumi experienced all excitement as the rising young Indian star IM Divya Deshmukh faced off against GM Uhmpia Humpy, a classic clash of the daringly creative against the resiliently defensive.
A decisive game two would win the entire match in either case. Divya and Humpy fight for the title, while Lei and Tan fight for the third qualification spot into the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament.
They say that game one was a serious missed opportunity for Divya. In an extremely sharp opening, which followed the game GM Evgeny Bareev-GM Vasyl Ivanchuk Linares 1992 for eight moves she had the potential to even win a miniature with a piece sacrifice. After mutual mistakes, however, the biggest miss of the game was in the following position, where 14. Qe2! was winning. Divya traded on b7 first, and then played 15. Qe2, but after Black's 15...Nc6 with the idea of 16...h5 White could win her piece back, but not more.
The game didn't end there, however and they saw the players contest an equal, but tense, heavy-piece endgame. At one point, Humpy could have claimed a draw on move 29 but refused to, and then Divya's 30 Kh2 continued the game, with just two minutes against 10. Neither player got burned for continuing the game, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
Establishing her resolve to engage, Divya opted for a sharp line in the Queen's Gambit Accepted with the white pieces. Already by move 10, she had sacrificed a piece for swift development and attacking chances against Humpy's exposed king and underdeveloped queenside. Engines even preferred White for a while, signaling the practical difficulties for Black trying to get her forces coordinated under pressure. Divya's choice was a full embrace of risk over a safer strategy, justifying itself as the hallmark of an ambitious player seeking to make a name for herself on the biggest stage.
Humpy's days were not barren. She relied on the precision of great experience gained at her level in finding accurate defensive moves, slowly neutralizing White's initiative. Instead of panicking under fire, she took the pragmatic route, i.e., not castling immediately and opting for exchanges to simplify the position. By the transition to the middlegame, she had returned the ingratiated material for Humpy and reached a position almost equal, which showed that she could pass through storms and after steering herself to calmer waters. While Divya kept on with the push, maintaining active play of her pieces and toying with the possibility of creating imbalances, there seemed to be no chinks for him to exploit under Humpy's precision.
After an exhausting battle of 41 moves, the players agreed to a draw- a reasonable one given the overall tempo of the game. Both players can take individual positives from this, with Divya showing that she is capable of challenging the best with her original ideas and fearless approach, while Humpy reaffirmed her resilience and unflappable demeanor, when tested severely. With White in Game 2, Humpy may enjoy a slight edge in the ensuing dynamic, yet this draw is leaving the field open for an intense continuation of the match. One, however, knows that this final is not merely a generation war; it is about graphic strategic beauty, psychological will, and ever-evolving aesthetics of women's chess. If the first game is any indicative parameter, expect an action-packed and closely followed matchup, where every subsequent set becomes more complicated and hard-fought, with neither of them concessive for anything.
The 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup takes place at the Grand Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Batumi, Georgia. It is a 107-player tournament with a single-elimination knockout format and a classical time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move from the first move. Each round consists of two games at the classical time control, followed by a tiebreak in faster time controls in case the scores are tied.
