GM Zhu Jiner and IM Divya Deshmukh received their second video games on Tuesday and lead the 2025 Pune FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix with an ideal 2/2 rating. Whereas Zhu wanted 66 strikes to grind down IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul in a rook endgame, Divya was the primary to win as GM Vaishali Rameshbabu blended up her strikes within the opening.
The video games IM Salome Melia vs. GM Humpy Koneru, IM Polina Shuvalova vs. IM Nurgyul Salimova, and GM Harika Dronavalli vs. IM Alina Kashlinskaya resulted in attracts. Spherical three begins on Wednesday, April 16, at 5:30 a.m. ET / 11:30 CEST / 3:00 p.m. IST.
Pune FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix Spherical 2 Outcomes
Pune FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix Standings After Spherical 2
Not solely when it comes to outcomes but in addition in preparation, Divya has had a dream begin in Pune to date. The 19-year-old IM from Nagpur had guessed the London System proper on the primary morning, and was even luckier the subsequent day when she determined to examine a topical line within the Open Spanish 5 minutes earlier than the sport.
If that wasn’t sufficient, her GM opponent Vaishali mainly gifted her a full piece by mixing up the transfer order: taking part in her bishop to g4 one transfer too early, earlier than transferring her rook. We have all been there.
A humble Divya mentioned afterward: “It’s not an actual win as a result of she simply tousled the transfer order. I used to be so stunned that she went 17…Bg4 that I assumed, I’m hallucinating as a result of, isn’t this simply higher for me? And it’s nearly successful.”
Requested if she seen something that prompt her opponent realized the error, Divya mentioned: “I sensed it a bit bit however she didn’t give me the total signal.”
In what was a totally completely different sort of sport, Zhu scored her second win as nicely, this time with the black items vs. Munguntuul. Opening principle wasn’t actually related right here, however rook endgame approach definitely was.
It was a thankless process to defend the place with pawns and double rooks after the time management, and the Mongolian participant can hardly be blamed for failing to carry it. Because it turned out, she ought to have used each rooks to harass the enemy king on the eighth rank.
One of many extra attention-grabbing clashes tomorrow shall be Desmukh defending her lead towards her extremely skilled compatriot Humpy. The latter could not break by way of from the black aspect of a Scotch 4 Knights as Melia performed it with little ambition however on the identical time extraordinarily solidly.
Harika and Kashlinskaya appeared in for a battle, each having began with a loss the opposite day. It was a reasonably commonplace King’s Indian middlegame place the place the gamers went for a transfer repetition as early as transfer 24. Shuvalova did not get a lot as White vs. Salimova’s Scandinavian Protection and in addition repeated strikes, in a queen endgame, simply earlier than the time management.
Spherical 3 Pairings
The best way to watch?
You may watch the published on Chess.com India’s YouTube channel. The video games may also be checked out on our devoted 2025 Pune FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix occasions web page.
The reside broadcast was hosted by IM Rakesh Kulkarni and Sahil Tickoo.
The 2025 Pune FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix is the fifth of six legs of the 2024-2025 FIDE Girls’s Grand Prix. The ten-player round-robin runs March April 14-23 in Pune, India. Gamers have 90 minutes, plus half-hour from transfer 40, with a 30-second increment per transfer. The highest prize is €18,000 (~$20,000), with gamers additionally incomes Grand Prix factors. Every of the 20+ gamers competes in three occasions; the highest two qualify for the 2026 FIDE Girls’s Candidates Match that decides the World Championship challenger.
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