The first set of players have been eliminated from the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup, and 11 players advanced through tiebreaks into an even more challenging round two. The advancing players are WIM Priyanka K, WIM Anahita Zahedifar, IM Klaudia Kulon, IM Gulnar Mammadova, WIM Umida Omonova, WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, WGM Thalia Cervantes, WGM Mobina Alinasab, FM Anastasia Avramidou, IM Inna Gaponenko, and WFM Anastasia Kirtadze.
The first classical game of round two is on Wednesday, July 9, starting at 7 a.m. ET / 13:00 CEST / 4:30 p.m. IST.
Underdogs Priyanka & Beydullayeva Win In Blitz Tiebreaks
We work our way backwards, starting with the most intriguing and closest matches first. They were the last two matches to end, and they went all the way down to blitz tiebreaks (six games each).
Tiebreaks were structured in the following order, although no matches reached the fourth stage:
- Two-game match with a 15+10 time control
- Two-game match with a 10+10 time control
- Two-game match with a 5+3 time control
- Players keep contesting 3+2 games until a decisive result determines the match winner
Gaal 2-4 Priyanka
On paper, Priyanka scored the biggest upset of the day with a published rating of 2090 against an opponent rated 2391, WGM Zsoka Gaal. However, in her interview, the Indian WIM explained she’d crossed 2200 before; three years ago, her peak rating reached 2227. Even accounting for that, however, the Hungarian number-one woman player was the overwhelming favorite.
“For now I’m just relieved because it was really crazy day,” said Priyanka after winning, then narrating the early games: “I won the first tiebreak and then in the second round I just blundered my rook directly.”
Priyanka, after winning the second classical game on demand, started the tiebreaks by winning the Game of the Day. With White against Gaal’s Caro-Kann Defense, Priyanka thrust her kingside pawns forward to gain space and, later, to set up a winning attack. The pawn sacrifice with 7.e6! was a theme she’d recycle later in the same match, and once the black king started running, it never found safety. GM Rafael Leitao presents his analysis of the sparkling attacking game below.
The very next game, as Priyanka explained, she hung a rook in one move.
The show went on, and after two draws in the 10+10 segment we were on to blitz. There, Priyanka won both games. In the first of these contests, she found an aesthetic knight sacrifice to put the game away.
In a must-win situation with Black, Gaal played Alekhine’s Defense, and the decision worked wonders in the early part of the game. But, in the end, Priyanka went on to win an endgame with two pawns for the exchange.
She moves on to round two, where she will join the likes of several other Indian legends. She said, “I don’t think I’ve ever played an event together with Humpy and Harika. I’m really excited for that.”
I don’t think I’ve ever played an event together with Humpy and Harika.
—Priyanka K
Priyanka will face Kulon, who also went through tiebreaks, in round two.
Beydullayeva 2.5-3.5 Zahedifar
WGM Govhar Beydullayeva seemed to be on the verge of winning the match at several turns, but the slips finally accumulated to a match loss. The resilient Iranian number-four Zahedifar, rated 2143, defeated her 2386-rated opponent to score the day’s second major upset in blitz.
After losing the first rapid game, she won on demand for the first—but not last—time in this match. Beydullayeva had dominated the entire game in a Dutch Stonewall, and only needed to draw a winning position. Two consecutive mistakes allowed her opponent to live onfor another two games.
The Azerbaijani player then converted a two-pawns-up endgame and once again needed a draw to finish the match. But nerves got the best of her and she lost with the imbalance of rook against bishop and two pawns.
In game five, Zahedifar took the lead for the first time in the match after her opponent blundered into a forced checkmate.
With a draw in the next game (taken despite another winning position for Zahedifar), she secured the match. She will face GM Valentina Gunina in round two.
19-Year-Old Omonova Scores Best Upset Of Rapid Portion
The biggest upset scored in the rapid tiebreaks, without going to the 5+3 time control, was 2211-rated WIM Omonova defeating 2360-rated IM Sophie Milliet. Omonova’s outpouring of emotion after winning was unmatched.
And the smile, as she reset the pieces just after, was worth a million bucks. You can watch one of the day’s biggest highlights in the clip below.
Milliet 1.5-2.5 Omonova
Like Zahedifar, the Uzbek WIM lost her first game but clawed her way back by winning on demand. Milliet’s 18…Qa5? was based on a miscalculation (likely missing the fork 21.Nc4!), and Omonova won a piece to earn another two games at the 10+10 time control.
Omonova nearly lost with the white pieces in the next game, but steered a losing endgame into a drawn one. And then she won the last game with Black.
Omonova, just 19 years old, represents the next generation of the chess superpower Uzbekistan. She will face Polish number-one woman IM Alina Kashlinskaya in the next round.
Four 2-0 Sweeps Won By Kulon, Oullet, Kirtadze, & Alinasab
We saw four 2-0 sweeps among the other tiebreak matches.
After suffering yesterday’s biggest upset, Kulon righted the ship against WIM Tania Miranda. Kulon, who lost the second classical game with a blunder, said, “It was a pity to even go to these tiebreaks because it’s always stressful, even if you play with such a lower-rated player… Rapid and blitz are always unpredictable, so I’m happy I won both games.”
Rapid and blitz are always unpredictable, so I’m happy I won both games.
—Klaudia Kulon
The second was a form of poetic justice, as it featured the same opening as her loss: the Chekhover Sicilian. This time, however, she won a quick game after an early blunder by Black.
You can listen to Kulon’s analysis below.
Ouellet also beat her signficiantly lower-rated opponent, WIM Anapaola Borda, while Kirtadze bounced back from her classical loss to win both rapid games against IM Ann Matnadze.
Alinasab—who won on demand with Black yesterday to stay afloat against her similarly rated opponent WIM Amina Kairbekova—won both games to advance. The Iranian number-one woman pointed out that it was her first tiebreaks ever despite participating in four World Cups. Her best was in 2018 when she defeated two grandmasters, Elisabeth Paehtz and Monika Socko, before losing against GM Mariya Muzychuk.
Round two will include all of the players, which means we will see the top players enter for the first time. This includes a star-studded list of world champions and challengers, with 2552-rated GM Lei Tingjie as the number-one seed. Don’t miss out!
How to watch?
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.
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