Koneru Humpy Leads Nine Indians at FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi

The 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, features 107 top female players competing for the title and qualification to the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, seeded fourth, is among the favorites alongside China's top seeds Lei Tingjie, Jiner Zhu, and Zhongyi Tan, highlighting Asia's dominance in women's chess. Four Indian players—Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, and Divya Deshmukh—are directly seeded into the second round, while five others, including Vantika Agrawal and Padmini Rout, began in the first round. The tournament uses a knockout format, with two classical games per round and tie-breakers if needed, and offers a prize pool of $691,250. Indian players have shown strong performances in previous events, with Harika reaching the quarterfinals in 2023 and recent successes including draws and wins by other Indian participants in early rounds. The top three finishers will qualify for the Candidates Tournament, with the winner gaining the right to challenge reigning champion Ju Wenjun.