FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup: India’s Priyanka shows Zsoka Gaal the exit door

International Master K Priyanka caused a major upset in the first-round tiebreaker as she breached the defences of higher-ranked Zsoka Gaal of Hungary in the blitz games in the first round of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup here.

Having lost the first game under Classical time control, Priyanka fought back bravely to crush Gaal and force her into the tie-breaker. The Indian then lost one and won in the rapid tiebreak games.

Thereafter, a couple of blitz games followed where the Indian was unstoppable as she won two games in a row to reach the round of 64 in this knockout event that will see the elite participating from the second round onwards.

Nine Indian women are in the fray with four of them — Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh — being given direct entry into the second round.

Out of the remaining five, only Kiran Manisha Mohanty will return home, while the other four, Vantika Agrawal, Padmini Rout, PV Nandhidhaa and Priyanka, have all reached the last-64 stage.

ALSO READ: FIDE Grand Swiss Chess: Erigaisi, Gukesh the top two seeds; Vaishali looks to defend women’s title

Fourth ranked Humpy will be seen in action in the second round against Afruza Khamdamova of Uzbekistan. The Indian is likely to secure the last-32 spot in this knockout event.

It will be an all-Indian contest as Harika will take on Nandhidhaa starting as a huge favourite. Priyanka, after her brilliant triumph, will meet Kulon Claudia of Poland, who looked a bit tentative in her first-round victory, while Padmini Rout has a tough customer in former women’s world champion Aleksandra Kosteniuk, who now represents Switzerland.

The real battle in the World Cup starts only now as the stakes keep getting higher. The biggest prize for the top-three finishers is a place in the Candidates, and from India’s perspective Humpy remains a firm favourite to grab one of those slots.

The total prize pool of the event is USD 6,91,250, with USD 50,000 going to the winner. Those who exit after the second round will walk away with USD 5000.