Koneru outlasts Lei; All-India Final @ Women’s Chess World Cup

Humpy Koneru won the semifinal tiebreak against Lei Tingjie by a 5-3 score, and will face Divya Deshmukh in the Final at the 2025 Women’s Chess World Cup.

Lei had multiple chances to take the lead in the first 15-minute tiebreak game, though it settled into a calm opposite colour bishop finish. Game two was quiet the whole way and ended in a repetition after 30 moves, so the players advanced to the 10-minute tiebreaks.

Game three was tracking similarly to game one, with Lei having multiple excellent chances as White but not capitalizing, however this time Koneru made the last mistake and Lei was able to win with rooks, opposite colour bishops, and two extra pawns to take the lead.

Game four was a similar pattern for the White player, with serious advantages that were on the verge of fading, but in complications, Lei was unable to navigate correctly and resigned, bringing the match back to level.

On to 5-minute games they went, with colours flipping so that Koneru had a second White game in a row. This game too had its ups and downs. With one rook and a queen each, Lei had an extra pawn as Black.

But 44. …Ra6?? was a tragic blunder with seconds on the clock. 45. Qd7! demonstrates the frailty of Black’s back rank, and 45. …Qf8 46. Rc8 was instantly winning for White. Black had to play 44. …Qf8! to make space for …Ra8, and importantly there is 45. Qxa1? Qd6+. While Black would not be able to push with the b-pawn, there would also be no target left for White and it should be a straightforward draw.

Lei did her best to conjure chances in the following game, but Koneru offered nothing, winning the game and the match.

The Deshmukh/Koneru Final begins at 11:15 a.m. UTC on Saturday, as does the third place match between Lei and Tan Zhongyi. Follow along on Lichess.

Photo by Anna Shtourman / FIDE