Divya Deshmukh’s experience with the FIFA World Cup ended in Goa on Sunday with a second successive defeat to Greek grandmaster Stamatis Korkolos-Arditis, this time in a 73-game move with the black pieces. Divya was the only woman in the field of 206 players at the World Cup in Goa. With 80 PIRs separating Divya from Korkulos-Ardites, the 19-year-old from Nagpur was not the favorite in the two-legged contest. But Divia’s recent tournament results – a FIDE Women’s World Cup win and victories over two top players at the FIDE Grand Swiss – coupled with her reputation for rising in must-win situations, and her penchant for fighting to the death in matches, meant she was fancying her chances of dragging Korkulos-Ardites into Monday’s tie-breaks at the Goa event. Along with Divia, home favorite Leon Luc Mendonca, playing in his first FIDE World Cup, which was also on home soil, was eliminated after losing his second match to international master from China, Shixu B Wang.
The most important result of the day for India was international master Aruniyak Ghosh’s victory over Polish grandmaster Mateusz Bartel on call after losing on Saturday to force deciders. Ghosh and Bartel will now face each other in two quick matches on Monday, with a time control of 15 minutes for each player (with 10-second increments per move). If these two games can’t decide a winner, the time controls will get smaller and smaller until players are forced to duel in Armageddon. Also facing tomorrow’s play-offs for a chance to play in the second round are India’s SL Narayanan, Lalit Babu MR, international master Diptyan Ghosh and Raja Rithvik R.
Among the players who secured a place in the second round are veteran Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Ronak Sadhwani, world junior champion Pranav V, Karthik Venkatraman and Pranesh.
The second round will see the participation of all the best Indians, including world champion Gokesh Domaraju, Prajnananda, Arjun Irejesi and Vidit Santosh Gujarati.
Divia lost the first game of the first round with the white pieces on Saturday, so Sunday’s match was a must-win to force the matter into deciders. After Korkoulos-Arditis opened Zukertort, there was only one pair of pawns off the board in the first 23 moves with players choosing against exchanges. But by the 17th movement, the engine was showing an advantage to Divya’s opponent while the clock showed a 15-minute lead for the Greek grand master.
By the twenty-sixth move, Divya was staring at the problem of time while desperately searching for ways to ensure victory. Even after she had an extra 30 minutes in the 40th movement, she was never able to control her watch, which seemed to slip from her grasp like sand through her fingers. She made her final 22 moves of the game on increments only with the time on her clock never rising more than two minutes.
Divia got a reprieve on the 35th move from the Greek GM, when the pawn pushed f4, but Divia was unable to convert.
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Indian results (Game 2-Round 1)
GM Divya Deshmukh lost to GM Stamatis Korkolos-Ardittis (Greece) 0:2
GM Pranav V
GM Raunak Sadhwani bt FM Daniel Parish (RSA) 1.5:0.5
GM Pranesh PTI M Satbek Akhmetdinov (KAZ) 1.5:0.5
GM Karthik Venkaraman PT GM Roberto Garcia Pantoja (CUB) 1.5:0
GM Diptayan Ghosh tied with GM Peng Xiongjian (CHN) 1:1
GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly bt GM Ahmad Ahmadzada (AZE) 2:0
GM Iniyan Pa bt GM Dylan Berdayes (Cub) 1.5:0.5
GMP Racke Seargether from yourself (moderar on Seposen (Kirjeo) 1:1
IM Aronyak Ghosh beat GM Mateusz Bartel (Pol) 1:1
GM Lalit Babu MR tied with GM Max Warmerdam (Ned) 1:1
GM Narayanan SL tied with IM Steven Rojas (per) 1:1
IM Himal Gusain lost to GM Andy Woodward (USA) with a score of 0:2
IM Harshavardhan GB lost to GM Mustafa Yilmaz (Tur) 0.5:1.5
IM Neelash Sahat to GM Georg Meer (Uru) 0.5:1.5
GM Leon Luc Mendonca lost to IM Shixu Bi Wang (China) 0.5:1.5
© Indian Express Private Limited
(tags for translation)Divya Deshmukh
