
Divya Deshmukh Continues Winning Run, Beats Lei Tingjie At Women's Speed Chess Champs
Divya Deshmukh, who won the Women's World Cup, beat Chinese GM Lei Tingjie 10-3 at the Women's Speed Chess Championship to reach the quarters.
Star Indian chess player Divya Deshmukh, who recently won the Women's World Cup, has continued her winning streak as she went on to beat Chinese GM Lei Tingjie at the Women's Speed Chess Championship, which is a family of annual blitz chess tournaments held and hosted by Chess.com.
Divya thrashed Tingjie 10-3 to reach the quarters of the tournament on Monday.
The teenage Divya, who became a GM herself after winning the World Cup in Georgia in July, dominated Tingjie in her opening round clash.
Divya will take on three-time world champion Hou Yifan, another Chinese Grandmaster, for a place in the semis on Thursday.
R Vaishali, the other Indian in the field, was eliminated after losing 6-8 to US IM Alice Lee last week.
While the men's speed chess championships began in 2016, since 2019, Chess.com has held the women's and junior speed chess championships as well.
Chinese GM Ju Wenjun is the reigning women's speed chess champion and Indian GM D Gukesh is the reigning Junior Speed Chess Champion.
The Women's Speed Chess Championship is an online single-elimination event featuring 16 players, comprising eight qualifiers and eight direct invites, competing for a total prize pool of $75,000.
In the opening round and the quarters, the players play 5+1 matches (time control of 5 minutes with an increment of one second per move) for 45 minutes, followed by 3+1 matches for 30 minutes and 1+1 matches for 15 minutes.
The scoring system awards 1 point for a victory and 0.5 points to each player for a draw, with the match winner being the competitor who accumulates the most points across all segments.
Five years back, the Youth Speed Chess Championship and the IM not a GM Speed Chess Championship were introduced as further spin-off events.
view comments
First Published:
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NDTV
18 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Great Lesson To...": Sanjay Manjrekar On India Winning 2 England Tests Without Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah's workload management has been a massive talking point. After an injury during the India vs Australia 2024/25 Test series ruled him out of action for more than three months, the team management has become more careful than ever before regarding the player's fitness. As a result, Bumrah played just three of the five Test matches in the recently-concluded series in England, putting himself under severe criticism. Bumrah played the first, third and fourth match of the series, while missing out the second and fifth game. Several questions were raised over Bumrah's decision of skipping matches to maintain his fitness. Some even went on to say that the player could not "pick and choose" matches. Recently, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also threw light on the topic and said that Bumrah should not be the frontline pick for India if he could not play more than two consecutive matches. The India vs England Test series ended in a thrilling 2-2 draw, and interestingly both of India's victories came in the matches that Bumrah didn't play. In the three games that the right-arm pacer played, India lost two and drew one. "...the game will always show us the mirror however much we try and gloss over things. It was poetic justice that the two Tests India won were two matches Bumrah did not play," wrote Sanjay Manjrekar in his column for Hindustan Times. "This should embolden the Indian selectors to make some hard choices when it comes to big-name players. This series has been a great lesson to them and to us too, the two Tests victories India achieved did not feature Virat (Kohli), (Cheteshwar) Pujara, Rohit (Sharma), (Mohammed) Shami and Bumrah too! It reminded us of the eternal truth of sport and life, no one, however great, is indispensable.

The Hindu
18 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Pogba watches as Monaco starts Ligue 1 season with a win
Paul Pogba watched as Monaco easily beat Le Havre 3-1 in its Ligue 1 opener on Saturday as Lyon won away at Lens. On Friday French giants Marseille suffered a first-day upset 1-0 at 10-man Rennes. In Saturday's late game, last season's fourth-placed team Nice fell 1-0 at home to Toulouse, but Monaco and Lyon avoided upsets. Georges Mikautadze scored the only goal as Lyon won 1-0 in northern France while 2018 World Cup winner Pogba's appearance in the locker room at the Louis II Stadium was one of the highlights of the first half of Monaco's game. Dressed in a vintage Monaco jersey, a cap on his head, and a big smile on his face, Pogba saw his team quickly take the measure of an outclassed Le Havre. Paul Pogba's fit while watching his new team 🤌 — Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 16, 2025 Midfielder Pogba signed a two-year contract with Monaco from Juventus this summer in a bid to relaunch his career back home in France. The former Manchester United player had made only 12 appearances across the last three seasons due to injuries, suspension and an extortion case in which he was the victim. However, to see Pogba in a Monaco jersey, fans will have to wait a little longer, along with Guinea-Bissau forward Ansu Fati, the club's other big summer signing. Adi Hutter's host proved dominant, particularly in midfield opening after 32 minutes after Gautier Lloris bundled Aleksandr Golovin's powerful cross into his own net. Englishman Eric Dier, also a summer signing, doubled the lead with a header from a well-taken Lamine Camara corner just after the hour mark. Le Havre pulled a goal back six minutes later when Rassoul Ndiaye got the better of new Monaco goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky before Maghnes Akliouche put the result beyond a doubt after 74 minutes. Mikautadze pulls Lyon through Earlier, Mikautadze struck at the end of the first half to give seven-time Ligue 1 champion Lyon its first win since American businesswoman Michele Kang took over as president in June to save the club from relegation after compatriot John Textor resigned amid financial irregularities. Lyon got the better against its former coach Pierre Sage, who took over at Lens after Will Still's departure. Financially constrained for summer signings, Lyon built its success with what it already had with strikers Malick Fofana and Mikautadze and midfield stalwart Corentin Tolisso combining well. Fofana ran rings around the Lens defence, breaking through at the end of the first half when he provided an ideal cross to Mikautadze. Despite 18 shots on goal, Lens were unable to deliver with Wesley Said and Deiver Machado both missing numerous chances. New recruit Florian Thauvin came off the bench for Lens after 57 minutes to rapturous applause from the home fans but despite bringing creativity and freshness, the World Cup winner could not make the difference. Four days after being eliminated in the Champions League qualifying round by Benfica, Nice once again displayed shortcomings in a 1-0 defeat at home to Toulouse with Djibril Sidibe scoring one minute before the final whistle.


India.com
18 minutes ago
- India.com
Put 4 Men On Rohit Sharma, Make Him Run 10 Km Daily: Yograj Singh's Advice To India Captain
Former India cricketer Yograj Singh has heaped praise on India's ODI captain Rohit Sharma while slamming the critics who often target the star batter's form and fitness. Yograj strongly believes that Rohit should continue playing for India for at least another five years. Rohit, who retired from T20Is after India's World Cup triumph in June last year, also stepped away from Test cricket in May 2025. Currently, he is leading the ODI side as captain and opener. His most recent outing for India came in the Champions Trophy 2025 final against New Zealand, where he played a decisive knock. 'Rohit Will Be My Man' - Yograj Speaking to News18 CricketNext, Yograj praised Rohit's class and match-winning ability. 'The man about whom so many people speak rubbish, Rohit Sharma – I said that day Rohit will be my man, the man, my man. The way he batted, his batting one side and the rest of the team's batting on the other. That's his class,' he said. Yograj added that Rohit still has plenty of cricket left in him. 'Rohit, aapki hume 5 saal aur zarurat hai yaar (Rohit, we need you for five more years, man). Please do more for your country, work on your fitness and everything. He has the class to play till 45 years of age, if he wants,' Yograj stated. Put Four Men on Him, Make Him Run 10 Kilometres Yograj Singh also took aim at critics who question Rohit's fitness despite not having significant competitive cricketing experience. He suggested that Rohit should keep himself active in domestic cricket to maintain peak fitness. Yograj Singh suggested that Rohit should push himself harder in training to extend his international career well into his 40s. Put four men on him, make him run 10 kilometres every morning. He has the class to play till 45 years of age, if he wants,' Yograj told News18 CricketNext. He further stated that Rohit's ability with the bat was unmatched, often placing him above the rest of the Indian line-up. Rohit's Match-Winning Knock in Champions Trophy Final Rohit Sharma was named Player of the Match in the Champions Trophy 2025 final against New Zealand in March. He scored a crucial 76 off 83 balls, an innings decorated with seven boundaries and three sixes, guiding India to the title. Yograj's strong backing comes at a time when Rohit is solely focused on ODIs, keeping India's hopes alive with his leadership and batting expertise.