Divya Deshmukh became the first Indian to win the FIDE women’s world cup, defeating Kuneru Hampi
By Princy Khera
India’s 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh has created history. Divya has become the first woman player of the country to win the FIDE women’s chess world cup. She won this title by defeating India’s own great player Kuneru Hampi. With this victory, she also became a grand master. Divya is India’s 4th female master. Before her, Kuneru Hampi, D. Harika and Vaishali have won this title.
Talking about world cup final, this match between Divya and Hampi started on 26th July and went on for 3 days. On one side there was 48 years old Kuneru Hampi and on the other side there was 19 years old Divya. There was a huge difference not only in terms of age but also in the ranking of both. Hampi is at 5th position in FIDE rating while Divya is at 18th position.
Two matches were played in classical format two days before the final and both were dominant, after this the match reached tie breaker which was being played in rapid format. Kuneru Hampi was considered the contender in this round. He had won the title of world rapid champion in December last year however Divya did a big upset. He won by defeating Hampi in the tie breaker played in the rapid format.
102 players took part in this tournament. Divya defeated many big players before the final. He had qualified for this championship with the victory in the semi finals itself. Divya looked very emotional after winning the final. After some time she came to her mother and started crying. After this win Divya said that “I think it was my luck that I got the grand master title this way.
I didn’t have a single GM norm before the tournament, I thought maybe I can achieve a GM norm here but I won and got the Grand master title, this win is very special for me but I hope this win is just a good start”.
The last one year has been very special for Divya. She became world junior champion in the girl’s section in 2024 itself, after which she also played a role in helping India win the Chess Olympiad. Now Divya has won the women’s world cup. According to a report in the Indian Express, Divya started playing chess at the age of 4.
Her parents took her and her sister for badminton classes but here Divya could not even reach the net, so she started taking chess classes in the same building. Her sister stopped playing badminton but chess changed Divya’s life.