The 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup final between Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh will be decided on tie-breaks after the players played out another draw in game 2, having drawn game 1 yesterday. Humpy's attempts at putting pressure were rebuffed by her 19-year-old opponent and they settled to battle it out on Monday for the title.
Humpy came into the game with a slight advantage having escaped with a draw in game 1, and having not lost a single one of the nine games she had played with white pieces in Batumi, Georgia so far. The veteran did spring a bit of a surprise with a Reti opening that soon evolved into an English Opening, with Divya opting for the Agincourt defence.
The pair soon settled into a drawn position, and there was no real jeopardy until the 21st move, when the duo spent around 15 minutes each to make a move. However, it was move 24, where Divya took around 19 minutes to make a move, that sort of put herself under pressure.
Speaking to the FIDE broadcast after the game, Divya revealed that it was a bit of a needless risk, saying "I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. I was trying to see if there was a win, but I just missed Qb8, and I think I was confused if I should go g6 or g5 and I think g5 was better because Qb8 doesn't work against it, but I had some other problems. It should have been an easy draw; I got into trouble for no reason."
Divya's high-risk moves seemed to have given Humpy an opening and the 19-year-old was walking a tight-rope, having to find incredibly accurate moves multiple times, where other lines would have left her in trouble. "I've been doing it for years now, so I think it's just embedded in me to push. I think I'm trying to balance being realistic and being practical, because this has often landed me in quite a few wins but also quite a few losses," said Divya afterwards.
The accurate moves closed up options for Humpy as well, and despite her attempts at forcing Divya into risky lines, the 19-year-old stood firm. The draw was inevitable and after 34 moves, we had a three-fold repetition and the players agreed to a draw.
Speaking to the FIDE broadcast after the game, Divya opened up that her aim today was just to recover after a game 1 where she threw away a winning position, saying "I was very disappointed with the first game, because I saw everything and I always ended up making the wrong choice - it was quite a pity. The first game did not go my way. Even though it was a draw, it kind of felt like a loss. So, I was just trying to recover and today was considerably easier."
Humpy is the reigning World Rapid champion, and ought to be the favourite for the tie-breaks tomorrow (beginning 1:30 PM IST), but Divya has beaten plenty of top players in this tournament. "I'm going to give my best. She's of course a really strong player but I'm hoping things go my way," said Divya looking forward to tomorrow.
After two draws, the FIDE Women's Chess World Cup comes down to which Indian will keep their nerves better, and it's a testament to both players that no one can make a prediction as to who will win.
You can relive all the action from game 2 of the final on our live blog, below: