FIDE Women's World Cup: Vantika beats Ushenina, Padmini out of the race

Indian Woman Grandmaster Vantika Agrawal battled through a roller coaster contest before breaking through the defences of former world champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine in the tiebreaks of the second round at the FIDE Women's World Cup. However, Padmini Rout lost to another former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk of Switzerland to bow out from the tournament.

In a gripping showdown, Vantika Agrawal held her nerve to secure a 4.5-3.5 win after the scores were tied 3-3 following multiple rounds of tiebreaks. The two players exchanged wins in the classical games, forcing a series of rapid tiebreakers. Vantika struck first with the black pieces in the rapid format, only for Ushenina to level the scores again at 2-2.

Further draws pushed the contest into five minutes per player games with a three-second increment. It was in this high-pressure phase that Vantika capitalised on a crucial blunder from Ushenina, edging ahead and eventually making her way to round three. The Indian will has a challenging third-round clash with Kateryna Lagno, a former Ukrainian prodigy who now plays for Russia.

Padmini's luck deserted her in the rapid tiebreaker against Kosteniuk wherein the Indian took the lead by winning the first game. Kosteniuk needed a win on demand to equalize the scores and she achieved that after Padmini missed her chances. In the fourth set of games, Padmini lost the first game with white and was losing the second one too when Kosteniuk decided to repeat moves and took a draw as it was enough to take her to the next round.

With Vantika's hard-earned victory there are still five Indians left in the last 32 stage of this USD 691,250 prize money event with an additional bonus of making it to the Women’s candidates’ tournament slated in 2026 for the top three finishers. Koneru Humpy will play against Klaudia Kulon of Poland in the third round, while D Harika starts as a huge favourite when she meets Stavroula Tsolakidou of Greece. R Vaishali has a tough customer in fast-improving Carrisa Yip of United States and Divya Deshmukh will forward to her entry in the pre-quarterfinals against Teodora Injac of Serbia.

Important and Indian results round 2: Lei Tingjie (Chn) beat Francisco Guecamburu Candela Be (Arg) 2-0; Alinasab Mobina (Iri) lost to Zhu Jiner (Chn) 0,5-1,5; Tan Zhongyi (Chn) beat Anastasia Kirtadze (Geo) 2-0; Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb) lost to Koneru Humpy (Ind) 0.5-1.5; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) beat Inna Gaponenko (Ukr) 1-1, 1.5-0.5;

Kateryna Lagno (Fid) beat Anastasia Avramidou (Gre) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0; Daria Charochkina (Fid) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) 0-2; Mariya Muzychuk beat Cervantes Landeiro Thalia (Usa) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0; P V Nandhidhaa (Ind) lost to Dronavalli Harika (Ind) 0-2; R Vaishali beat Ouellet Maili-Jade (Can) 2-0; Gulnar Mammadova (Aze) lost to Polina Shuvalova (Fid) 0-2;

Alexandra Kosteniuk (Sui) beat Padmini Rout (Ind) 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1.5-0.5 goes to tiebreak; Divya Deshmukh (Ind) beat Kesaria Mgeladze (Geo) 1.5-0.5; Vantika Agrawal (Ind) beat Anna Ushenina (Ukr) 1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Klaudia Kulon beat K Priyanka (Ind) 1-1, 2-0; Alina Kashlinskaya (Pol) lost to Umida Polonova (Uzb) 1-1, 0-2; Mai Narva (Est) lost to Yuxin Song (Chn) 1-1, 0-2. PTI