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India’s 19-year-old Chess Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh became the first teenager to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup, defeating Koneru Humpy 1.5-0.5 in tiebreaks.
Divya Deshmukh has scripted history in the FIDE Women’s World Cup. (PC: File)
India’s 19-year-old Chess Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh became the first-ever teenager to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup by beating compatriot Koneru Humpy in tiebreaks on Monday (July 28).
Divya defeated Humpy 1.5-0.5. The first Rapid game ended in a draw, and Divya secured a brilliant win with the Black pieces to win the match. She’s also the first Indian to win the tournament.
The tournament began in 2021 and the first title was clinched by Russia’s Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was 37 years old at the time. The runner-up of the 2021 edition, Aleksandra Goryachkina, also from Russia, clinched the second season in 2023 but she, too, was 24 years old at the time of winning.
“Congratulations to @Divyadeshmukh05 on winning the World Cup. Becoming GM and a spot in the candidates. Amazing battle of nerves. @humpy_koneru played a very good event and showed a commendable fighting spirit . The great champion she is! It was a great celebration of Indian chess, particularly Women’s chess,” Viswanathan Anand wrote on X.
Divya Deshmukh takes home GM title, $50,000
Deshmukh will earn a prize money of $50,000 (around Rs. 43 lakhs) for winning the tournament. By virtue of winning the competition, she now also holds the title of Grandmaster, only the fourth Indian woman to do so.
She joins her opponent on the day, Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, and R Vaishali. Divya’s path to becoming a Grandmaster was not easy and took an atypical route, too.
Usually, becoming a GM requires a player to win three GM norms and achieve a Standard (Classical) FIDE rating of 2500 or above. However, players can also do it by winning certain elite competitions, including the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
“I need time to process it (win). I think it was fate, me getting the Grandmaster title this way because before this (tournament) I didn’t even have one (GM) norm, and now I am the Grandmaster,” she said after the match.
An emotional Deshmukh couldn’t hold back her tears following the victory against an opponent twice her age.
Deshmukh also secured a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament, which will decide who will take on world champion Ju Wenjun of China in the Women’s World Championship.
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