TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Chess Association (PB Percasi) officially announced that Woman International Master (WIM) Shafira Devi Herfesa and Evi Juliana will compete in the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup, which will take place in Batumi, Georgia, from July 5 to 29, 2025. Shafira and Evi departed for Georgia accompanied by coach IM Tirta Chandra Purnama on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Shafira (ELO Rating 2167) qualified and emerged as the champion in the Asian Zone 3.3 Chess Championship 2025 held in Mongolia from April 23 to May 1, 2025. Meanwhile, Evi Yuliana (ELO Rating 1975) traveled as a "wild card" player. Evi was sent due to her participation in the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, which fulfills the qualification set by FIDE.
"This is one of the highly competitive and mandatory FIDE championships. PB Percasi is committed to sending athletes to important events like this one. We are grateful to have qualified two players this year," said the PB Percasi in a press release in Jakarta on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Profile of Shafira Devi Herfesa
Shafira is a 16-year-old chess player from Sleman, Special Region of Yogyakarta. Currently, Shafira is pursuing her secondary education through homeschooling and has joined the national training center in Bekasi, West Java. At a young age, Shafira has achieved numerous championships in both domestic and international chess competitions.
Born on December 13, 2008, the chess athlete has won the national championships in the G9 (2016), G11 (2019), G15 (2023), and G19 (2024) categories. In addition, Shafira also clinched a gold medal at the National Sports Week (PON) 2024 in Aceh-North Sumatra in the women's individual category.
Shafira also won the Eastern Asia Girls Rapid 2024 event, securing a gold medal, and emerged as the champion in the Japfa FIDE Rated Challenger, ranking third. Prior to that, Shafira also claimed first place in the ASEAN Age Group G16 Blitz 2023 in Bangkok.
Shafira was the number one chess player in the 2025 Women's Chess World Cup qualification Zone 3.3, held in April and May 2025 in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. In this qualification, which covered East Asia and Southeast Asia, Shafira was the only Indonesian representative without a title. Shafira's ELO Rating was at its lowest then, in 1983, during the qualifying rounds.
Shafira's success in defeating one strong chess player after another came as a surprise at the Mongolia tournament. Shafira successfully outplayed Janelle Frayna in the 54th move of the second round. At that time, the 29-year-old chess player from the Philippines, a Woman Grandmaster (WGM), had a significantly higher ELO Rating than Shafira, at 2311. In the final round, Shafira surprisingly managed to defeat the local favorite chess player, WGM Munkhzul Turmunkh, who held an ELO Rating of 2301 at the time.
Thus, Shafira became the second Indonesian female chess player to qualify as a champion for the 2025 Women's Chess World Cup. Previously, WGM Medina Warda Aulia achieved a similar feat in 2019 at the age of 22.
Rina Widisatuti and Bagus Pribadi contributed to this article
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