Picture Credit: X
In the fifth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Shymkent, Indian IM and WGM Divya Deshmukh earned her first tournament win against Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia, to find herself in sixth place in the 10-women event with 2.5 points. Although her compatriot and GM Koneru Humpy didn’t have the best of rounds as she lost to Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan, which meant that she dropped down to joint-third place with three points.
In a battle against yet another opponent beyond the 2,500 rating points, Divya Deshmukh got a healthy advantage on the clock against Batkhuyag Munguntuul, but it needed an element of good fortune for her, to secure the first win of the tournament. In the post-match, Deshmukh remarked that her opponent played quite well before admitting that she got lucky when Munguntuul made a poor 36th move in the game.
I played all the strongest players in the first five rounds, so it’s been quite tough: Divya Deshmukh
Divya Deshmukh also spoke about the tough first five matches for her in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Shymkent. She said, as per Chess.com, “It’s been a tough one so far because I think I played all the strongest players in the first five rounds, so it’s been quite tough, some ups and downs. I think after my loss to Goryachkina, it was really tough for me to bounce back immediately because I’m playing Tan Zhongyi the next day [she drew]. I’m proud of myself—so far it’s been good!”
Meanwhile, the other Indian player in the draw, Koneru Humpy, who was looking to hunt down the first place in the tournament, lost the fifth round match after a rare opening line didn’t work for her against Bibisara Assaubayeva. With this tough result, she fell down to third place in the tournament standings behind GM Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia by a point and her latest opponent by half a point.
