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Journalism of Courage
IN GEORGIA, a country that birthed some of the earliest pioneers of women’s chess, India has discovered its own world-beater: Divya Deshmukh, aged just 19, became the FIDE Women’s World Cup champion by defeating the veteran Koneru Humpy, 38, in the final via the tiebreakers on Monday.
Divya winning the Women’s World Cup also makes her eligible to be India’s fourth woman to become a grandmaster, which is significant because before the event started, she had none of the three norms required for it. But in one fell swoop, thanks to a regulation in the FIDE rules, Divya has now bypassed the criterion to earn three norms and is now a grandmaster as well. India’s 88th. By reaching the final, along with Humpy, Divya ensured that at least two Indians will play the Candidates tournament next year, where eight players fight it out to earn the right to play in the women’s World Championship against current world champion Ju Wenjun.
“I think it was fate, me getting the grandmaster title this way,” an emotional Divya said after her win. “Before the tournament, I didn’t even have one norm to be GM. I was thinking that I could maybe earn a grandmaster norm here. And in the end, I became a grandmaster.”
Since Humpy became a grandmaster, just two women — Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali Rameshbabu — from India have followed suit. Divya now joins that list.
“This title means a lot. But there’s a lot more to achieve. I’m hoping this is just the start,” Divya said.
The Divya vs Humpy finale was a battle of generations, with the 19-year-old Divya being half the age of the veteran Humpy, who is India’s first woman to become a grandmaster. But more importantly, it was a battle between two Indians while two Chinese stars, Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie, fought for the third spot. Having two Indians make it to the final from a field of 107 players was an indicator that just like in the open section, where the likes of Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa have started to assert themselves, India could drive women’s chess in the immediate future after decades of dominance by Chinese and Russian grandmasters.
While Divya’s path to the title went through the likes of World No.6 from China, Zhu Jiner, the veteran Indian Harika Dronavalli, and former women’s world champion from China, Tan Zhongyi, before the final, Humpy had also defeated two strong Chinese players on way to the title clash – Lei Tingjie and Song Yuxin – besides taking down Alexandra Kosteniuk, the Russian-Swiss grandmaster.On Monday, after their first rapid game ended in a draw, Divya won the second tiebreak game, thanks to a series of errors from Humpy.
Over the weekend, the first two classical games between them had ended in draws. The first game, which was played on Saturday, was where Divya had the best chances to win, while playing with white pieces. She came with a plan and got a sizeable advantage on the board. But then at the end, she scuffed her lines and allowed Humpy to equalise.
Divya had said that the draw on Saturday had “felt like a loss” to her. “I had seen everything (beforehand). So I was disappointed by that,” she said. “But I got ready for the second game (on Sunday) by telling myself that I have my whole life to feel sorry for that game. I needed to prepare for the second game.”
Divya, who was an International Master when the tournament started 25 days ago, was the underdog coming into the tiebreaks, because the games were played in the rapid format and Humpy became the World Rapid Champion for the second time in her career in December last year. Humpy is also currently ranked world No.5 in the FIDE ratings list for women while Divya is world No.18 (which makes her the fourth ranked Indian on the list).
In other formats, Humpy is ranked much higher than the teenager from Nagpur. In rapid, Humpy is No.10 in the world while Divya is No.22. In blitz, while the veteran is No.10 in the world among women, Divya is No.18. Just like Divya, Humpy was also a prodigy back in the day. In fact, Humpy was once the youngest woman to achieve the grandmaster title, when she beat Judit Polgar’s record by three months to reach there at the age of 15 years, one month and 27 days.
Lifting the FIDE Women’s World Cup is a significant leap for Divya. It was just last year that she was crowned the world junior champion in the girls section.
Divya was also the inspiration behind the Indian women’s team winning a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year where she claimed an individual gold as well for her board.
