Indian chess prodigy Divya Deshmukh is making waves at the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025, after the 19-year-old Grandmaster became one of the two from the country to enter the semifinals in Georgia. The other Indian is Koneru Humpy.
Having defeated compatriot GM Harika Dronavalli in the quarterfinals, winning both the tie-break games, Deshmukh drew her first semifinal game against China's Tan Zhongyi with a 0.5-0.5 scoreline. The result from the first game was shared on the official X handle of FIDE.
Earlier, Deshmukh had stunned China's world no.6 Zhu Jiner in the tournament. Deshmukh has trained under GM RB Ramesh at Chess Gurukul in Chennai and is best known for her sharp tactical vision, unshakeable composure, and creative flair.
Divya Deshmukh - All you need to know
Born in Nagpur to doctor parents Jitendra and Namratha, Deshmukh was drawn into sports when her elder sister enrolled in badminton. But she found her love in chess at the age of five and quickly advanced.
Two years later, Deshmukh brought home her first title, winning the Under-7 National Championship in 2012. That was followed by world youth titles in U‑10 (Durban, 2014) and U‑12 (Brazil, 2017) categories.
Deshmukh got her woman FIDE Master early on and by 2021, she had earned the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM), and became Vidarbha's first and India’s 22nd under that rating.
In 2023, Deshmukh got the title of International Master (IM) and won the World Junior Girls’ U‑20 Championship in 2024 as a world no.1. She had finished with a dominant 10/11 score of 54:53.
There was no looking back for Deshmukh as the Nagpur girl played a crucial role in India's team gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad (2024) in Budapest. At an individual level, Deshmukh achieved a performance rating over 2600 in the blitz segment of the World Team Rapid & Blitz Championship. So far, Deshmukh has three chess Olympiad gold medals in her cabinet, and multiple Asian and World Youth titles.
