Batumi: International Master Divya Deshmukh gave nothing away and held higher-ranked Grandmaster and compatriot Koneru Humpy to an easy draw to force the final of the Women’s Chess World Cup into the tie-breaker, here on Sunday.
The tie-breaker, which will be a series of shorter-duration games, will be played on Monday to determine the winner.
Divya, who did not make utmost use of her promising opening in the first game on Saturday, was far more composed against a Queen pawn opening by transposition employed by her opponent in game 2. Humpy got the optical advantage with her pair of bishops out of the opening but Divya knew that if she placed her knights perfectly, white will not be able to create many problems.
As it happened in the game after two minor pieces, the pair of rooks also changed hands and the queen-and-minor-piece endgame only offered little hope.
Humpy tried to make some headway with a pawn sacrifice in the endgame but in the process her bishop pair was gone, and though a pawn plus, Divya had to cover
weaknesses.