“The quality of a champion” – Humpy and Zhu Jiner lead with one round to go
After being around for many years, I have come to realize that elite chess players possess two principal qualities: the capacity to fight till the end in lost positions and the capability to recover fast from a painful loss. This afternoon, without any doubt the most interesting round of all the WGP’s that I have attended, Humpy was on the verge of losing several times against Kashlinskaya, who hadn’t won a game so far. But she kept fighting, defending as best as possible, and she finally reaped the reward – a draw, keeping her options to win in Pune open. On the other board, Zhu Jiner played an impressive game against Divya, after losing yesterday to Humpy. Her recovery was uncanny – from losing the lead and even the chance to win, to a situation in which she is tied for first with one game to go. No less than three ceremonial first moves were performed today, on different boards and with the white pieces. Mr. Ajay Patel, Senior Vice President of the Indian Olympic Association opened the game for Salome Melia, Mr. Dev Patel, Secretary of the All Indian Chess Federation opened for Munguntuul and finally Dr. Ravindra Dange, Commisioner of the Pune IRS opened for Zhu Jiner. The final round will be played tomorrow afternoon. The key pairings are Humpy vs Salimova and Shuvalova vs Zhu Jiner. Anything can happen, and we will be here to report it! Let’s take a closer look at this afternoon’s games. Zhu Jiner 1 –0 Divya Deshmukh Zhu Jiner prepared the Four Knights Glek system with 4.g3. For many moves, they followed a recent 2024 game between Abdusattorov and Giri. After the opening, Black’s bishop was stranded out of the game on a6 and White also controlled the fantastic e4 square, but Divya was preparing a strong attack on the kingside. After a couple of inaccuracies, Zhu sacrificed a piece for three pawns with 26.Nxe5!, entering a totally winning ending. Divya was forced to give back the piece in order to avoid white pawn’s promotion, but to no avail: with a 96% accuracy score, took the game home. “I feel happy today, especially since I lost yesterday” were Zhu’s first words in her post-game interview. Check it out here! https://youtu.be/WHTGxB2oFZ8?si=C4xcdXbX5NRkAAwj Alina Kashlinskaya 0.5 – 0.5 HumpyKoneru The Polish number one player missed out on an opportunity to win her first game this afternoon, and at the same time take down the leader of the event. The opening was a classic 5.d3 Anderssen variation of the Ruy Lopez. Alina obtained a small edge in space going out of the opening, but Humpy very near equality. At a certain point, Humpy started to play hesitantly (first 16…c6? and then 19…Ra7?) and ended up in a passive position with very little space. Alina gradually took control, installing a huge knight on d6. She achieved a decisive advantage and also Humpy was very low on time. Kashlinskaya forced the exchange of queen’s, went into a totally winning endgame, and then this occurred. White’s position is won very easily with 49.Rd-d5, defending everything, and Alina was about to play this move but changed her mind and chose 49.Rb7? a blunder that cost her the win. Humpy exchanged rooks and played 50…Nc5, picking up the pawn on b7, and a draw was agreed a few moves later. Even though she was visibly frustrated, Kashlinskaya came to the media center to give us her thoughts on what had happened. A true professional. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TeG0Zt98B4 Nurgyul Salimova 0.5–0.5 Vaishali Rameshbabu The game began as a Triangle Slav opening. With 7.b3!? (essentially a novelty in the position), Salimova sacrificed a pawn for a lead in development and control over the center. She had excellent positional compensation in the middlegame: the bishop pair and optimal squares for her pieces. However, with 29.Qe1?? she missed a tactic and after 29…Nd3! Black was already better. A few moves later Vaishali sacrificed her rook for a decisive advantage, but in acute time trouble she couldn’t find the way to win and ended up forcing a perpetual check. Salome Melia 0.5 –0.5 Harika Dronavalli The first game to cross 100 moves in the Grand Prix – a testament to the fighting spirit of the players. The game saw the Duras variation of Ruy Lopez (5.d3 + 6.c4).They followed a 2018 Tiviakov vs Ernst game for many moves, although Harika spent more time in the opening, maybe slightly surprised. With her move 14.0-0, Salome sacrificed a pawn for the attack and better development, and rightly so: her opponent’s castled king was very weak. At the key moment, however, Salome went for 27.e6?, which looks good but is not the best move (27.Qh4 keeps up the attack), and suddenly it was Black playing for the win. However, in heavy time trouble, with both players under two minutes, the game evened out and a draw was agreed after 116 moves. Check out Salome Melia’s postgame interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plOWrj94SQk Munguntuul Batkhuyag 0.5 – 0.5 Polina Shuvalova Munguntuul went for the 6.Be3 + 7.Nf3 Najdorf English attack, following the game Naiditsch vs Moussard of 2022. The fight for the d5 square was the key idea in the opening, but Shuvalova played excellently and ended up with a very comfortable position going into the middlegame, with double time on the clock. Shuvalova steadily increased her positional advantage and won a pawn in a tactical skirmish just before move number forty, profiting from Munguntuul’s time trouble. But despite Polina’s best effort, she was unable to break down her opponent’s defences, and a draw was agreed on move ninety-one. Round nine dates and pairings The ninth and final round of the fifth leg of the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series will take place on Wednesday, April 23, 14:00 CET local time in Pune, India, one full hour before the usual time. These are the pairings: Vaishali Rameshbabu – Salome Melia Humpy Koneru – NurgyulSalimova Divya Deshmukh – AlinaKashlinskaya Polina Shuvalova – Zhu JinerHarika Dronavalli –
Ju Wenjun sets the pace in FIDE Women’s Events 2024–25
Fresh off her fifth world title, Ju Wenjun tops the leaderboard in the 2024–25 women’s series, setting an intense pace for her rivals The highest-placed player of FIDE Women’s Events qualifies for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, if she has not qualified by any other track. Three of the eight qualifying events of the series have already been completed, and the race for the top spots is heating up. Ju Wenjun, as the reigning champion, continues to assert her authority on the circuit. Ju has amassed an impressive 86.5 ranking points (RP), holding first place on the scoreboard. She collected 48 points after winning the 2024 Women’s World Blitz Championship and 38.5 points from the shared 2-7th place in the Women’s World Rapid. Right behind Ju, Humpy Koneru sits a close second on 84 points, all earned from her victory at the 2024 Women’s World Rapid in New York. More than 20 points behind, in third place, is Tan Zhongyi. Like Ju, Tan shared 2-7th place in last year’s World Rapid in New York, which netted her 38.5 RP. Tan, a former Women’s World Champion herself, added another 25 RP after the just finished Women’s World Championship match, which she lost to Ju (6.5 vs 2.5). Photo: Michal Walusza Kateryna Lagno (pictured above), a multiple-time rapid and blitz world champion and the 2018 World Championship finalist, is currently fifth with 54.4 points—16 from a third-place finish in the Blitz and 38.5 from a shared second in the 2024 World Rapid. Further behind – on 38.5 RP – is a trio featuring former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, India’s Harika Dronavali and Uzbekistan’s rising star, 16-year-old Afruza Khamdamova (pictured below). All three gained points in the Women’s World Rapid in New York last December. Photo: Michal Walusza Seventeen players remain in contention, and the standings are set to shift again with the Grand Prix series nearing its finale in Austria this May. “Every event in this series carries serious weight. This isn’t just a race to the 2026 Candidates—it’s where careers are forged, history is made, and records fall. Look at the field: it’s a clash of generations and styles, and that’s driving innovation and pushing women’s chess to new heights. FIDE’s format rewards consistency over headline wins—and sustaining that kind of form across this cycle is difficult. But that’s exactly why only the best survive it,” said Dana Reizniece, a Woman GM and Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board. The cycle continues with the conclusion of the Women’s Grand Prix Series in May, followed by the Women’s World Cup, the Women’s Grand Swiss, and the 2025 editions of the Rapid and Blitz World Championships. With former world champions like Alexandra Kosteniuk and Lei Tingjie still in the mix, and experienced contenders such as Harika Dronavalli and Koneru Humpy battling rising stars like Bibisara Assaubayeva and Carissa Yip, the race for the final qualifying places remains wide open. The full leaderboard can be found – here. How the points are calculated Under the official regulations approved by the FIDE Council, the final score of each player is determined by the sum of their best five tournament results in the cycle. In the event of a tie in the final rankings, the lowest-scoring event is removed in a stepwise tiebreak process. The top player in the overall standings who has not otherwise qualified earns a coveted place in the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. For more information about the regulations – see here. Which events make up the 2024–25 series The FIDE Women’s Events 2025–2026 is an official ranking series that brings together the most prestigious FIDE-organized women’s tournaments across a two-year cycle. It serves both to reward consistent top-level performance and to determine qualifiers for the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026. There are eight major tournaments which are part of these series, offering Ranking Points to the players. These are: – Women’s World Rapid Championship 2024– Women’s World Blitz Championship 2024– Women’s World Championship Match 2025 (only runner-up earns RP)– Women’s Grand Prix Series 2024–25 (final standings used)– Women’s World Cup 2025– Women’s Grand Swiss 2025– Women’s World Rapid Championship 2025– Women’s World Blitz Championship 2025