Chess
Divya Deshmukh creates history as India’s first FIDE Women’s Chess World Cup Champion
With this, she also earned the Grandmaster title, becoming India’s 88th Grandmaster.
Divya Deshmukh pipped Koneru Humpy in a rollercoaster finals tie-breaks to be crowned the 2025 FIDE Women's Chess World Cup champion in Batumi, Georgia, on Monday.
The 19-year-old Deshmukh beat Humpy with the black pieces in the second 15-minute rapid game to become the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup title.
Having drawn the first game with the white pieces, Deshmukh was under pressure to hold for a draw and keep herself in contention.
However, Humpy's choice of opening played right into Deshmukh's hands.
The youngster from Nagpur was well prepared in what was a closed Catalan opening and blitzed out moves with ease in the opening play.
At one point, Deshmukh had over 15 minutes on the clock, while Humpy was down to just seven minutes.
Despite the ten-second increment, the time pressure eventually caught up to Humpy, who made multiple errors in the end game while looking to play fast.
Deshmukh grabbed her opportunity with both hands, and Humpy eventually resigned after 72 moves when she realised there was no stopping her opponent from promoting to a queen on the f-file.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, who was on the FIDE commentary panel, said Humpy had herself to blame for the loss.
"It was self-inflicted," he analysed.
As for Deshmukh, she broke down in tears the moment Humpy shook her hands.
The win also helped her surpass the usual title regulations and earn the Grandmaster tag by virtue of this win.
"I need time to process it," Deshmukh said to FIDE after the win. "I think it was fate [earning the GM title]. Before this, I did not even have one norm. Before the tournament, I was thinking if I could get one norm...Now I am a Grandmaster.
"There is a lot more to achieve. This is just a start," she added.
Deshmukh is now India's 88th Grandmaster and 13th from the state of Maharashtra. She is also just the fourth Indian woman to earn the tag after Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, and R Vaishali.
She is the second youngest of the four women, achieving the GM title at the age of 19. Humpy was just 15 years old when she did so back in 2002.
