Koneru Humpy, the country’s first woman to become a Grandmaster (GM), and GM Divya Deshmukh qualified for the last-16 of the FIDE Women’s World Cup in contrasting victories.

While Divya, who was a point ahead, needed a draw, which she secured against Teodora Injac of Serbia, Humpy had to stretch herself to oust Kulon Klaudia of Poland.

Two Indians have sealed their spots in the last-16, but the other three contenders, D Harika, Vantika Agrawal and R. Vaishali, can also follow suit, subject to their performance in the tiebreaker.

Grandmaster Harika played out back-to-back draws with Tsolakidou Stavroula of Greece to keep herself in the reckoning for the pre-quarterfinals, while Vantika, who won her first-round game against Kateryna Lagno of Russia, lost the return game to level the scorecard. Though Vantika, Harika and Vaishali will face a challenge in the first set of tie-break games, they can still make it to the round of 16.

With US $6,91,250 at stake, the event promises prize money of US $50,000 for the winner. The top-three finishers in the FIDE Women’s World Cup will qualify for the next Candidates tournament, which will decide the contenders to Ju Wenjun, the reigning women’s world champion.