After a 2-2 deadlock in the normal games, the stage was set for an exciting finale and Ushenina came up triumph winning the second game under rapid time control after the first game had ended in a draw.
The Ukrainian won 60000 USD for her efforts in the championship and gets to play the next World Championship against Yifan Hou of China next year as part of the new cycle in the women's World Championship.
The 64-players championship ended in a tie-break much like the men's World Championship earlier this year where Vishwanathan Anand won defeating Boris Gelfand of Israel in the rapid tie-break.
The Indian challenge in the championship had lasted till the semi-finals where D Harika went down to Stefanova after an intense struggle.
Speaking about the match, Ushenina did not mince words while calling it a grueling schedule.
"The match was very interesting, but we were clearly tired and made many mistakes. In the third and fourth games we exchanged blows -- first I took the lead, then Antoaneta equalised the score. In the first tie-break game white stood better, but I held a draw. In the second game black was slightly worse, but Antoaneta was very short on time, defended inaccurately and gave me a chance to win," said the new women's world champion. MORE
