Divya Deshmukh-Koneru Humpy final starts with veteran accepting Queen's Gambit challenge

The dream all-India FIDE Women’s Chess World Cup final commenced with a Queen’s Gambit game where the experienced Koneru Humpy accepted the challenge of en ergetic Divya Deshmukh in Batumi, Georgia, on Saturday.

The opening classical game of the final, a battle of generations — between 38-year-old Humpy, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, and 19-yearold Divya, ranked No. 18 — ended in a 41-move draw with perpetual checks and by repetition.

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The title clash opener had all the fireworks but turned out to be a game of missed opportunities for energetic Divya with her white pieces, followed by a fighting draw for experienced Humpy. When Divya castled on the eighth turn after Humpy accepted her challenge in a sharp Queen’s Pawn opening, both the Indian compatriots followed the game played in 1992 be -tween former World No.

2 Vasyl Ivan -chuk and 4th ranked Evgeny Bareev.

In the Queen’s Gambit Accepted game of Central Variation and McDon -nell Defense, Divya had the possibility of taking the lead by winning it within two hours of the contest. With Divya’s dark-coloured bishop blocking Humpy’s knight, the biggest miss of the game came for the 19-year-old in the 14th move. Had Divya brought her queen into play instead of sacrificing her light-coloured bishop, she could have been in a winning position, but she missed that.

After this miss, Humpy escaped from losing the contest, and the position became equal. But the game didn’t end there. Both Divya and Humpy fought a tense, equal and heavy-piece endgame. Humpy had a chance to claim a draw on the 29th turn, but she tried some tricks and Divya’s king con -tinued the game and was a bit under time trouble too. Finally, when Divya won Humpy’s rook on the 37th turn, the 38-year-old India No. 1 split the point with her 4th ranked compatriot by repeating the moves. With Humpy managing to draw with black pieces, she will now be in an advantageous position when she starts the second classical game with white pieces on Sunday. Humpy later said, “It was quite a complex game where I overcame a complicated situation.” On accepting Divya’s challenge in the Queen’s Gambit, which she normally doesn’t play, Humpy said, “I think she just prepared on my game which I played earlier. And when I just misplayed in the opening, she got a big advantage, but after my 16th move, I was out of danger.” Speaking with TOI, former national champion Pravin Thipsay said, “I think the important moment in the game was when Divya exchanged the bishops and gave away all her advantage. If she had brought the queen ahead, I think there’s a mating attack, and probably it could have been a quick loss for Humpy. Looks like a great escape after a risky battle.” He added, “It once again proves that Divya is quite well prepared, and Humpy is trying to make all the board solutions, which perhaps may not be the best idea. But apparently, it seemed to work today because on two occa -sions, if you failed to find the best book, Divya played aggressively, and she sacrificed the piece, which wasn’t actually accurate.”