'What Indian chess misses is sponsorship': Divya Deshmukh

After being crowned World Junior girls champion on Thursday, Divya Deshmukh raised her voice for more sponsors for young Indian chess players.

At the recently concluded 11-round World Junior Chess Championship, 18-year-old Divya won her maiden U20 crown by collecting ten points.

Divya became only the fourth Indian girl to attain the feat after Koneru Humpy (2001), Dronavalli Harik (2008) and Soumya Swaminathan (2009).

Her title also ended India's 15-year wait for the World Junior crown.

Divya is the defending Asian women’s champion. She also won the Tata Steel Chess India rapid champion last year and was an individual bronze medallist from the last Olympiad.

Despite making a rapid rise, she still does not have a sponsor. Her expenses are met by her father.

“What Indian chess misses is sponsorship,” Divya was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

Due to the circumstances, the International Master from Nagpur is more relieved than happy to win the title.

Lack of international exposure means, her Elo rating of 2456 points was way behind the second seed which meant she could not afford to have a bad game.

She won nine of the 11 games and played out draws in two. Eventually, she won more than seven Elo points.

“There was the pressure of the Elo points, but including this one, I had the chance to play only two World junior championships and this is a tournament I always wanted to win,” said Divya.

“The fact that it was being held in India made my decision easier. Many of my opponents, like second seed Mariam Mkrtchyan (who finished runner-up), were better than their rating,” she added.