Koneru Humpy wins Pune FIDE Women's Grand Prix, clinches Rs 15 lakh prize money

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While Koneru Humpy won the Pune leg of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024-25, India's Divya Deshmukh finished third and Harika Dronavalli came joint-fourth.

Indian chess Grandmaster Koneru Humpy clinched the Pune leg of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024-25 on Wednesday despite finishing level on points with China’s Zhu Jiner. The title was handed over to the 38-year-old Indian GM based on her superior tie-breaks over Jiner. Both Humpy and Jiner had ended with a score of 7/9 after the Indian chess player defeated International Master and Bulgarian player Nurgyul Salimova in the final round.

Jinder defeated Russia’s Polina Shuvalova in the ninth round. In the penultimate round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Pune, Humpy had played out a draw against Alina Kashlinskaya, while Jiner downed India’s Divya Deshmukh as they shared the lead with 6 points each . Both Humpy and Jiner earned a prize money of $17,600 (Approximately Rs 15,06,217) and 117.



5 points. “Humpy Koneru and Zhu Jiner both won their final round games and ended the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix tied for first, but it’s Humpy who takes the top spot thanks to superior tiebreaks!” wrote FIDE on ‘X’. It’s another big win for Humpy in recent time after she reclaimed the women’s World Rapid Chess Championship in December last year after a gap of five years.

India’s Deshmukh finished third with a score of 5.5/9 after drawing against Poland’s No.1 player Alina Kashlinskaya in the final round.

Harika Dronavalli drew against Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia to finish fourth with a score of 4.5/9, the same as Shuvalova. R Vaishali had a bad tournament as she finished sixth with 4 points.

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