GM Koneru Humpy was on the brink of elimination in the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup Semifinals after losing the third tiebreak game. But she won on demand in game four and then won the two blitz games—pulling off the hat trick—to advance over GM Lei Tingjie. She will play IM Divya Deshmukh for the title, while GM Tan Zhongyi will face Lei in the match for third place.
After a rest day, the Finals are on Saturday, July 26, starting at 7 a.m. ET / 13:00 CEST / 4:30 p.m. IST.
Women’s World Cup Semifinal Results
The top three finishers of the event will qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament, which means the match for third place still has great consequences.
Humpy 5-3 Lei
It took a full eight games to decide the match: two classical, two rapid (15+10), another two rapid (10+10), and then two blitz (5+3). Humpy summarized the five-and-a-half-hour battle: “It was a very tough match and she also gave a very good fight.”
It was a very tough match and she also gave a very good fight.
—Koneru Humpy
Lei had a better first half of the match, creating (but missing) chances as early as the very first game. She had an unexpected, sudden win on the spot with 19.Bxh6!! but played 19.Nhf5 after about a minute, still with an advantage but not a decisive one. Later on, she had great chances to win the opposite-color bishop endgame with queens on, but the game fizzled after 38.Qxa5? (38.Qd8 was the only way forward).
We continued to see slow, maneuvering, cautious play by both sides—understandable, considering the immense stakes of the match. In game two, we saw a clean draw, with 97 accuracy by both sides, but in game three, Lei drew first blood.
In a queenless middlegame that arose from the Italian Opening, Humpy blundered a pawn with 22…h5?, blitzed out. It should have been a routine win for players of this caliber, but nerves were on full display as both players made mistakes. Humpy could have seized her chance to save the game with 38…Rbxg6, but after 38…Rxh5? Lei had another opportunity and managed to convert the opposite-color bishop endgame with a pair of rooks.
Humpy later said, “I think initially I played quite bad with the black pieces and she always had the advantage. After the loss, it was a very difficult situation, but I was able to come back.”
The next game, Humpy won on demand, starting with the space-gaining pawn push 17.c5!. Though Black had two pawns in the center, White carved out the d6-square for a knight, a strategy that netted the exchange many moves later. This is our Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao below.
From there, it was all Humpy. Game one of blitz was a nervy encounter where both sides hung exchanges in the middlegame. After trading into an equal endgame, though, it was Humpy who pounced on a decisive blunder under time pressure.
Needing only a draw in the final game, Humpy went on to win when her opponent went for a desperate and unsound attack, though Lei did the right thing by trying. Humpy’s defense was impeccable.
It’s the first time in history that an Indian player has made it to the Final, and now we have two. We are guaranteed an Indian winner. Humpy addressed the fans: “I think it’s one of the happiest moments for the chess fans… but of course as a player tomorrow it will be quite a tough game as well. Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament.”
Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament.
—Koneru Humpy
She also shared advice for girls who are watching: “For girls it’s really important to always compete especially among the boys. It’s important in their learning stage to fight with the main players so they can improve their skills.”
The players will recharge their batteries on Friday, and then the finale of this nearly month-long event will take place on Saturday. The Final will be a true clash of generations.
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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