(August 12, 2025) On July 28, 2025, in Batumi, Georgia, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh scripted a chess history defeating former world champion Koneru Humpy in a tense rapid tiebreak to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup. The victory instantly earned her the Grandmaster title, making her India’s 88th GM and only the fourth Indian woman to hold the distinction. Seeded 15th, Deshmukh’s path to the title saw her topple higher-ranked opponents in succession, including Zhu Jiner, Harika Dronavalli, and Tan Zhongyi. Upon her homecoming she received a warm welcome at her hometown Nagpur which celebrated her victory as the city’s pride and a national milestone in India’s rise on the global chess stage.
Divya has been thrilled with the extraordinary bonus and the direct award of the Grandmaster title, bypassing the usual requirement of earning three norms. In one stroke, Divya went from having no GM norms to becoming a full-fledged Grandmaster. It’s a feat even top players like Hikaru Nakamura noted with admiration.
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A historic and unusual triumph
Divya became India’s 88th Grandmaster and the fourth Indian woman to earn the title not by accumulating the usual three GM norms, but by winning the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi. While most players spend years chasing norms and crossing the 2500 Elo threshold, Divya had no norms prior to the event. Her victory over Koneru Humpy in the final granted her direct GM status under FIDE’s special provision for elite tournament winners. She had already crossed the 2500 rating mark in October 2024, but it was this World Cup triumph. It was a rare shortcut embedded in FIDE’s rules that sealed her title. As Divya herself said, “I didn’t even have one norm before coming to the World Cup…now I have a crown and Grandmaster title too”.
Seated 15th in the tournament, she defied expectations by defeating higher-ranked players at every stage: 2nd seed Zhu Jiner in the fourth round, 10th seed Harika Dronavalli in the quarterfinals, and 3rd seed Tan Zhongyi in the semifinals before the final showdown.
“It was the most difficult tournament of my career,” Divya admitted. “The pressure, the nerves, the stamina—you had to show up on the board every day and give your best.” The feat also guarantees her a spot in the Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026, placing her among the elite contenders for the World Championship.
The road to the final
The World Cup is a grueling knockout event, demanding both psychological endurance and physical stamina. Divya entered directly in round two and faced no “easy” opponents. Even against lower-rated players like Georgia’s Casaria in the opening round, she saw determined resistance.
Her most emotionally taxing match came against Zhu Jiner. “I had a bad score against her, so it was more difficult,” she recalled. The quarterfinal against Harika Dronavalli, her Olympiad teammate, required tiebreak victories. By the time she reached Tan Zhongyi in the semifinals, she had learned the tournament’s golden rule: take it one game at a time.
Against Humpy, the final boiled down to a nerve-wracking rook endgame. Divya noticed her opponent’s unease in the rapid tiebreaks and seized the moment. “In rapid and blitz, so much depends on the day and how you manage yourself. That’s where I had the edge,” she said.
Preparation, strategy, and support
One of the biggest revelations post-victory was the identity of her coach. For years, Divya had kept it a secret, even from friends in the chess circuit. In Batumi, she finally revealed her trainer: Hungarian Grandmaster Csaba Balogh, who she says “had a harder time this tournament than I did” with endless late-night preparations. She also credited Indian GM Abhimanyu Puranik for his support.
Her mother, Namrata Deshmukh, was another cornerstone of success. “When I’m stressed, I lose my appetite. She made sure I ate. I even fell sick at the start of the tournament, and she was there to rescue me,” Divya said.
Failures that built a champion
Divya’s victory signals a new era for Indian women’s chess. While her latest triumph made headlines, Divya insists her toughest tournaments were the ones she didn’t win. The 2024 Tata Steel Women’s Rapid and earlier challenges in Prague and Wijk aan Zee were filled with setbacks. “Failure makes you stronger than success,” she reflected. “Being beaten left, right, and center taught me more than any victory.”
These experiences sharpened her preparation, expanded her opening repertoire, and gave her the mental toughness to face and beat the world’s best.
Beyond the board: Fitness, mindset, and motivation
Elite chess today is as much about physical stamina as mental sharpness. The World Cup spanned nearly a month, with daily high-pressure games. While Divya enjoys sports, she admits she’s not yet a regular at them but is determined to improve her fitness routine.
Her mental preparation involves a balance between focus and detachment. She listens to motivational music before games. These are songs like Believer, Thunder, Unstoppable, Roar, and the Hindi track Zinda to get into the competitive mindset.
Inspiring the next generation
Divya is aware of her growing role as a trailblazer for young Indian girls in chess. Her advice to aspiring players is to “play in open tournaments, compete with the best, and always give your best.” She points to legends like Judit Polgar and India’s own Humpy and Harika as proof that competing against top male and female players accelerates growth.
She also emphasizes the importance of balance, pursuing education alongside chess. Inspired by players like Tania Sachdev, who balanced academics with an elite career, Divya hopes to follow a similar path.
Early years and meteoric rise
Born in 2005, in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Divya grew up in a Marathi household steeped in education. Both her parents are doctors. She attended Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir and discovered chess early, quickly dominating age-group events.
Her list of achievements is staggering for someone not yet 20: gold medals at the Asian Championships, World Junior Championship, and World Youth Championship; two golds and one bronze at the Chess Olympiad; and the 2022 National Women’s Chess Championship.
In 2024, she won the World U20 title and double gold at the Chess Olympiad, scoring 9.5/11 on Board 3 with a 2608 performance rating. She also stunned the chess world by defeating Women’s World No. 1 Hou Yifan in a blitz endgame at the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships.
New goals after a dream year
Winning the World Cup and becoming a Grandmaster were two of her long-term goals, and achieving them simultaneously has forced a rethink. “Now I have to set new goals,” she said. Her immediate plans include competing at the Grand Swiss in September and possibly representing India in the World Team Championship in Spain this November.
But she’s not resting on her laurels. “I’ve reached one goal but there are 100 more left,” she remarked.
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