New Delhi, July 25 -- The final of the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup is going to be an all-India affair after Koneru Humpy beat China's Lei Tingjie 5-3 in a tie-breaker that left all those watching breathless. She has set up a battle against 19-year-old compatriot Divya Deshmukh, who beat Tan Zhongyi in the classical format on Wednesday. After scrambling and surviving the first two Rapid games, Humpy, playing black, lost the third Rapid game of the day as Lei took early charge and didn't let go. With her tournament on the line, Humpy needed a win and she did just that. Humpy, playing with white, won the next Rapid game at a canter demolishing Lei in just 39 moves. Lifted by that performance, she won the next two Blitz games to seal her place in the final. As a result, Humpy has also earned her spot in the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament which will be held in the first half of 2026. Commenting on the tie-breaker on X, five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand said: "The tiebreak between Humpy and Lie Tingjie ended in a duel of nerves given the huge stakes involved. Humpy managed to compose herself and come back into the match after the first setback and then won the last two games to go through. Incredible resilience and after her World Rapid win as well as her shared first place in the Pune Grand Prix, a remarkable World Cup to get another Candidates spot." The tie-breaker is not for the faint-hearted. The classical format gives you time to remember your preparation and calmly think through a tough situation. The challenge is that of perfection. In contrast, the Rapid and the Blitz formats are all about instinct. The paucity of time often forces your hand and you may miss obvious moves. The challenge here is surviving the chaos. Humpy's mind would have been in turmoil after that early loss but this is where the value of her experience shone through. The 38-year-old had had a pretty barren run in 2024 even considering quitting but she ended the year by winning the women's world rapid championship. She hasn't looked back since. The Rapid title was a big one for Humpy, who has always considered herself to be a more solid classical player and the confidence gained from that would have no doubt helped her on Thursday as well. The Indian, ranked fifth in the world, upped the ante when she needed to against the Chinese world No.3 and by the end, she was clearly the better player on the day. "It's a very tough match," Humpy told FIDE during the live broadcast. "Initially, I played quite bad with the black pieces and she always had the advantage. After the loss, it was a very difficult situation but I was able to come back. I think Lei was very comfortable, even in the last game instead of Bb3, e4 would have just killed the position. I just realised after making the move. But yeah, Blitz was in my control." In the first Blitz game, Humpy (with white pieces) established a solid position early on but the complex middle game saw the game going into a time scramble before the Indian came out on top. The pressure was now on Lei. She needed to find her best form but Humpy turned in a composed performance to win the tie-breaker 5-3. Humpy and Deshmukh's run to the final means that Indian chess is continuing its brilliant run on the world stage. The women's team won the Olympiad, Humpy is the reigning women's World Rapid champion and D Gukesh is the world classical champion. When asked this result means to India, especially for female Indian chess players, Humpy smiled and spoke of how the country has the title in the bag. "It's one of the happiest moments for chess fans because now the title is India's for sure," she said. "But as a player, it will be quite a tough game as Divya has played tremendously well in this whole tournament." The winner of the tournament will earn $50,000 but the final is going to be about so much more. Both, Humpy and Deshmukh, are playing some of the best chess of their lives and as things stand, they won't settle for anything less than the crown....