FIDE Women’s Grand Prix: Humpy beats Zhu, takes sole lead; Divya edges past Batkhuyag

FIDE Women’s Grand Prix: Humpy beats Zhu, takes sole lead; Divya edges past Batkhuyag

In what was always likely to be the most important game of the fifth leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix, Koneru Humpy got the better of Zhu Jiner at the Amanora-The Fern, here on Monday.

With that vital win in the seventh round, the No. 1 seed from Vijayawada snatched the sole lead from her Chinese rival, seeded second.

Humpy has 5.5 points with just two rounds remaining. After her first loss of the tournament, Zhu, who remains on five points, has slipped to the second spot, where she is joined by Divya Deshmukh, who registered a crushing win against Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia. 

As expected it was a keenly contested encounter on the day’s main board, which saw Queen’s Indian Defence, until Zhu blundered a piece on the 44th move. There was hardly anything to play for Black after that, and she gave up another 11 moves later.

Published on Apr 21, 2025