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On Monday, July 28, Indian International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh defeated her compatriot and Grandmaster (GM) Koneru Humpy in the second rapid game in the tie-breaker during the final, to become the new FIDE Women’s World Cup champion in Batumi, Georgia. After the two classical games ended in a draw over the past couple of days, these players battled in two rapid games of 10 minutes each, with a 10-second increment per move, wherein Divya Deshmukh came out on top.
In the first rapid game in the tie-breaker, Divya Deshmukh, who had the white pieces, pushed Koneru Humpy to her absolute limit, but despite having the queen on the board, she had to settle for a 81-move draw. It led to Deshmukh, who had the black pieces in the second rapid game in the tie-breaker, got her task cut out to earn a draw against Humpy, with the latter expected to push for the decisive win in the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 final.
But both the players made a few blunders in key moments of the second rapid game in the tie-breaker, allowing each other the chance to take the advantage heading into the endgame. Ultimately, Koneru Humpy faltered once too many under the time pressure during the endgame, giving opportunity to Divya Deshmukh to drive home the advantage, and after 59 moves of intense chess, she forced her compatriot to resign the game before getting teared up upon releasing her dream to be a Grandmaster.
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With this famous victory, Divya Deshmukh became the 88th Indian player to earn the title of GM in their career, the first one being the legendary Vishwanathan Anand in 1988. She also etched her name in the history by being the fourth Indian woman to achieve the GM title, with her milestone moment coming at just 19 years of age, and now, the sky is the limit for her in the remainder of her chess career.
