Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy outclassed Yuxin Song of China in the first game of the quarterfinals to make a huge stride forward towards the last four stage of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup here on Saturday.

  Humpy was at the top of her game against the Chinese who played the black side of an English opening. Right from the beginning, Humpy had some clear ideas as the game took shape more closer to a Catalan opening kind of structure.

Launching an offensive in the centre in the early middle game, Humpy significantly dented black’s pawn structure with a pawn sacrifice. Song was at sea from this moment and she failed to find a way to stay afloat.

Humpy crashed through with another pawn advance and by the time the dust settled, Song found herself two pawns less. The Chinese fought on a long time hoping for a miracle that did not happen. The game lasted 53 moves.

Meanwhile, the all-Indian clash between Divya Deshmukh and D Harika ended in a draw after both the players played solidly without giving anything away.

The game started with a Ruy Lopez wherein Divya played white and chose a less-played system. Harika was armed well-enough to keep white’s pieces at bay in a position that hardly offered any chances.

After the trade of queens, the result was never in doubt and the peace was signed after a mere 31 moves.

Top seed Tingjie Lei of China was the other winner of the day and the fact that her victory came with black pieces against Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia makes her a firm favourite to get in to the semifinal.

It was an out an out tactical battle wherein Dzagnidze found her opponent to be smarter. The transposition to a hanging pawns structure made the position vulnerable for both kings in the middle game but Lei hit the destroy button first and won a knight. The ensuing endgame was child’s play.

In the other quarterfinal match, R Vaishali drew with former world women’s champion Zhongyi Tan of China. The Italian opening by the Indian as white did not pose much of a problem for Tan as the position was always close to equal.

In the endgame, Vaishali gave a rook for a Bishop to land in a position that was just a draw. The Indian went on playing in the longest game of the day but nothing changed in the end. The game ended after 73 moves.

The World cup has a total prize pool of USD 691250, out of which USD 50000 is the winner’s share. Also at stake are three qualifying places for the next women’s Candidates’ Tournament that will decide the challenger to the reigning champion Wenjun Ju in the next women’s world championship match.

Quarterfinal results game 1: Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Yuxin Song (Chn); Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Tingjie Lei (Chn) (Ind); R Vaishali (Ind) drew with Tan Zhongyi (Chn); Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with D Harika (Ind).