• Source:JND
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FIDE Women's World Cup: Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy demonstrated her exceptional skill, launching a formidable counterattacking game to hold International Master Yuxin Song of China at bay and stormed into the FIDE Women's Chess World Cup semifinals on Sunday.

Having won the first game with white pieces, Humpy needed just a draw to seal her semifinal spot as she skillfully steered the second game against Song.

With a semifinal spot secured, Humpy will get two chances to break into the top three, a feat that guarantees her participation in the next Women's Candidates tournament, for which the top three from here qualify.

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The all-Indian duel between Grandmaster D Harika and IM Divya Deshmukh ended in a stalemate, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the tie-break games, scheduled for Monday.

Grandmaster R. Vaishali's favourable position wasn't enough to seal a victory, as she lost from barely better chances against former world women's champion Zhongyi Tan of China, who had drawn the first game and lost by the same score as Song.

Against Yuxin Song, Humpy equalised without much ado, but then surrendered two pawns in tandem to give white some hopes.

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However, Song's pawn structure was severely compromised, with three pawns clustered on a single file, and Humpy found her counterplay in the centre. As she regained the pawns, Humpy skillfully navigated the position to lead the game to a level rook and pawns endgame.

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Harika adopted a cautious approach with the white pieces, as in the previous game, where the players reached a drawn rook and pawn endgame.

Notably, this all-Indian matchup goes into tie-break games of shorter duration, ensuring that two Indian players will feature in the semifinals.