Zhu Hits Back To Beat Divya As Humpy Escapes

GM Zhu Jiner bounced back right away to outplay IM Divya Deshmukh and regain the lead in the 2025 Pune FIDE Women's Grand Prix going into the final round. Zhu would have been the sole leader if IM Alina Kashlinskaya had converted a completely winning position against GM Humpy Koneru, but one blunder spoiled hours of fine work.

Elsewhere GM Vaishali Rameshbabu also let a winning position slip, against IM Nurgyul Salimova, while IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul ended a four-game losing streak with her first draw of the tournament, against IM Polina Shuvalova.  

Round nine starts on Wednesday, April 23, at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CEST / 2:00 p.m. IST.

Pune FIDE Women's Grand Prix Round 8 Results

Zhu scored the only win of round eight, but all the games were fighting, including 91 and 116-move draws, with countless missed chances.

Pune FIDE Women's Grand Prix Standings After Round 8

Humpy and Zhu now go into the final round neck-and-neck, with a full point lead over Divya.

Zhu 1-0 Divya

After her loss to Humpy, Zhu confessed that she didn't go into this crucial game with any great hopes: "I lost yesterday and I thought maybe I’m not in shape, so I just tried to play very solid today."

Her solid Four Knights opening worked to perfection, however, as she seized space and got to grab Black's a5-pawn. That meant that when the opportunity came to sacrifice a knight later in the game it was perfectly sufficient to pick up another two pawns for the piece.

The advantage only grew from there, with 35.c5!, sacrificing the c-pawn to push the b-pawn, a nice touch. 

Zhu was asked whether she tries to analyze a loss like the one she suffered the day before or simply forget about it, and answered that she does both: "I check what is my mistake and also try to forget this loss!"

The loss in round eight ended Divya's hopes of a first grandmaster norm (she needed 1.5/2 in the last two games) and left her with only mathematical chances of tying for first place in the event. For Zhu, meanwhile, it seemed the sole lead once more beckoned, until Humpy pulled off a great escape!

Kashlinskaya ½-½ Humpy

Kashlinskaya won the only other Grand Prix she's played this season, in Tbilisi, but in Pune everything has gone wrong for her, with three losses and no wins. She explained her approach:

"I’m just trying to play every game like a new game and today really was the day I should have won. It seems like in this tournament everything goes wrong for me, so maybe it’s better to have it all wrong in one event, than throughout the year!"

Today really was the day I should have won.

—Alina Kashlinskaya 

Kashlinskaya seemed to follow the blueprint of Zhu, grabbing space and also a pawn on a5, and she never wavered for a moment as she built up a completely winning position, commenting, "I got the position according to my style, that I’m pressing and she has uncomfortable moves to make."

It all came crumbling down, however, after Humpy's 48...Re8 attacked the e5-pawn. Kashlinskaya explained her hand was hovering over the d1-rook to make the move 49.Rdd5!, but then... "I thought 49.Rb7?? is much more forcing, why shall I continue pressing when I can just finish the game, and then I just blundered. I finished the game, but not in the way that I was supposed to." 

"I think I will have nightmares today," said Kashlinskaya, while Humpy was given a get-out-of-jail card and now goes into the final round as the co-leader.

All of the draws were eventful. IM Salome Melia vs. GM Harika Dronavalli stretched to move 116, with both players able to regret a missed chance—Melia when on move 24 she pushed her e-pawn instead of her f-pawn (she was contemplating both options), and Harika later on as she couldn't grind out a better endgame.

Munguntuul seemed to be in trouble again against Shuvalova, but she pulled out of the nose-dive of a four-game losing streak to make a draw in 91 moves—her first draw of the event. It also means she's level with Melia and Kashlinskaya in last place, rather than occupying that spot alone.

The biggest miss featured GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, who made the move 36...Rxf3!!, grabbing only a pawn, with nine seconds to spare.

The sacrifice was completely correct, but one mistake seven moves later, when Vaishali was again down to only around a minute on her clock, and the win slipped away.

That left Vaishali still a win away from returning to a 50 percent score.

Round 9 Pairings

That sets up the final round of the event perfectly, with Zhu and Humpy battling for Grand Prix victory and the overall goal of qualifying for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament. Humpy has White against Salimova, while Zhu is Black against Shuvalova. Only if both leaders lose can Divya catch them, by beating Kashlinskaya.   

How to watch?

The 2025 Pune FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the fifth of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The 10-player round-robin runs March April 14-23 in Pune, India. Players have 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes from move 40, with a 30-second increment per move. The top prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with players also earning Grand Prix points. Each of the 20+ players competes in three events; the top two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament that decides the World Championship challenger.

Previous coverage:

• Round 7: Humpy Beats Zhu To Snatch Pune Women's Grand Prix Lead
• Round 6: Zhu, Humpy Win Again In 2-Horse Race
• Round 5: Vaishali Scores 1st Win, Zhu Survives Salimova's Queen Sac
• Round 4: Zhu Wins Again As Humpy, Divya Stay In Hunt
• Round 3: Zhu Sole Leader At Pune Women's Grand Prix As Humpy Beats Divya
• Round 2: Divya, Zhu Win Again To Lead Pune Women's Grand Prix With 2/2
• Round 1: Pune Women's Grand Prix Takes Off With 4 Decisive Games