Who is Divya Deshmukh, the first Indian to reach Women’s World Chess Cup final?

International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women’s World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.

In the process, Divya became the first Indian to make it to the Candidates’ tournament.

The stakes are high in this tournament as the final berth also ensured her entry in the women’s Candidates’ tournament next year that will decide the challenger to Wenjun Ju, the reigning women’s world champion.

Having already eliminated second seed Zoner Jhu of China and then compatriot Grandmaster D Harika in the quarterfinals, Divya continued to be the giant slayer of the event and her game against Tan was a testament to her growing chess skills.

With the Indian boys making a great headway at the top of the chess world, it was already time for the girls to have a say and Divya is the new girl on the block after R Vaishali.

Who is Divya Deshmukh?

The daughter of two doctors, Divya was born in Nagpur. Although her interest in sports came from the time her sister enrolled for badminton classes, Divya chose chess as her discipline.

Her talent in chess was on display since she was five years old. Deshmukh won the national Under-7 championship in 2012, after which she continued showing her mettle in other youth tournaments across the world - U‑10 (Durban, 2014) and U‑12 (Brazil, 2017), both of which she won.

She became a Woman Grandmaster early in 2021, and in 2023 became an International Master.

Deshmukh won the World Junior Girls’ U‑20 Championship in 2024.

Following this, she played a crucial role in India winning gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad (2024) in Budapest. She is also the winner of three chess Olympiad gold medals.

With PTI inputs