FIDE Women’s World Cup Round of 16 Day 1: Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, Song Yuxin and Divya take the lead

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Refreshed after their rest day, the sixteen qualifiers returned to the Grand Bellagio venue for the first of the two-game Round of 16 matches that will determine who advances to the quarterfinals.

The round was formally opened by the Head of the Sports Department of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Irma Nizharadze, who welcomed the players and wished them good luck. She then performed the ceremonial first move on Lei Tingjie’s board, marking the official start of the round.

Seeded number one and a former Women’s World Championship challenger, GM Lei Tingjie opted for a solid approach against her young opponent’s tactical prowess.

It wasn’t their first encounter. “I played a blitz game against Omonova two years ago at the World Blitz and Rapid Championship and noticed that she’s a very talented and resourceful player,” said Lei after the game. “So, I decided not to waste too much time on the clock.”

“It worked out very well for her when WIM Umida Omonova, perhaps slightly out of her depth, made a couple of positional mistakes and quickly found herself in a desperate position. Omonova attempted an exchange sacrifice to generate counterplay, but it ultimately proved ineffective.

‘I don’t necessarily think that I am in the best form of my life. Every game seems normal, and I just wait for my opponent to make a mistake,’ Lei explained after the game.”

IM Divya Deshmukh delivered a fantastic performance this afternoon, decisively overcoming an opponent who had posed significant challenges in recent tournaments, including two previous losses at the Nicosia and Pune 2025 Women’s Grand Prix legs.

“I didn’t prepare specifically for this game. Since I had a poor score against GM Zhu Jiner, I thought it might be some sort of mental block. So, I decided to focus on playing against the pieces instead, and once the game started, it didn’t matter who I was playing,” explained Divya in her post-game interview with FIDE’s Star Interview host, WIM Charlize van Zyl.

Divya’s strategic handling of the Najdorf, especially seizing control over the d5-square, shows deep positional understanding. Dominating that square in the Sicilian often means restricting Black’s counterplay and securing central control.

By forcing principled exchanges, she clearly transitioned into a favorable good knight vs bad bishop endgame — a textbook example of converting a small edge into a winning position. Those endings are notoriously difficult for the defender, and her tactical precision in the final phase just capped off a well-played game.

China’s GM Tan Zhongyi took revenge for her loss in the 2020 Online Olympiad against Ukraine’s IM Yuliia Osmak. “I think my performance has been average, especially in the second round where there were some issues,” Tan explained after the game.

It was a strong performance by the former Women’s World Champion, and one of the players here, who already knows what it feels like to finish among the top spots in this event.

Under pressure for most of the game, Osmak finally succumbed on move 31, despite the draw being within reach. When asked afterward about how she personally handles pressure, Tan responded, “I think there’s nothing you can really do about it; it’s something every player has to endure.”

Moment of the day

D10-DG01

Playing with White, Tan is slightly better but to hold the draw Osmak must get her king to the d8 square as fast as possible. The correct move therefore would have been 31…Ke8 but after a few minutes thought Osmak played 31…Nd7? allowing 32.Bb5 Ke8 33.Re1! Kd8 34.Kd3! and suddenly the rook will invade the seventh rank.

D10-DG02

A few moves later, Osmak had to resign as the combined strength of the rook, bishop and passed pawn had created an unstoppable mating net.

IM Song Yuxin joined her two higher-rated country colleagues in the winning group with a fine performance against local GM Lela Javakhishvili, giving her a head start going into the second game of the match tomorrow.

Although she was trailing 1.5-0.5 in their head-to-head score from two 2019 Chinese League games, Song capitalized on her deep home preparation to refute her opponent’s slightly dubious opening.

Always smiling, Song joined us in the media center to analyze her game and share insights into her daily tournament routine.

The other four matches concluded in solid, uneventful draws. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk delivered an exceptionally precise performance against GM Humpy Koneru in a Spanish Berlin Defense, achieving a remarkable 98% accuracy with no inaccuracies.

These two players are well-acquainted, having faced each other 73 times across various formats, with Kosteniuk holding a slight edge at 36.5 to 32.5 points.

GM Kateryna Lagno had a crucial moment to seize the advantage in her game against GM Harika Dronavalli. However, after missing this opportunity, the game gradually simplified into an equal rook ending, which eventually ended in a draw.

This result added draw number 48 to their personal head-to-head record, which now stands at 23 wins for Lagno, 22 for Harika, out of a total of 92 games.

Both GM Mariya Muzychuk (playing against GM Nana Dzagnidze) and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (facing IM Meruert Kamalidenova) fought hard for a win but were unable to find a decisive advantage at any point in their games.

They will all return tomorrow afternoon with colours reversed to determine who will advance to the quarterfinals.

Follow the games live and watch the action with expert commentary provided by GM Valeriane Gaprindashvili and IM Almira Skripchenko on the FIDE YouTube channel.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Batumi, Georgia)

Photos: Anna Shtourman

About the tournament:

Scheduled to take place from July 6th to July 28th, the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup will gather together in Batumi (Georgia) the world’s best female chess players. A total of 107 players from 46 different federations are set to participate in the event, including seventeen of the current top twenty!

Chess legends, seasoned professionals and emerging talents will play for the $50,000 first prize, in addition to three qualifying spots for the Candidates.

The full pairings tree and day-by-day results can be found on the Women’s World Cup website.

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