Divya Deshmukh's emergence and Koneru Humpy's resurgence: 2 takeaways for Indian chess evident at FIDE World Cup

Indian Express

6 days ago

The two India vs China semifinals — Koneru Humpy vs Lei Tingjie and Divya Deshmukh vs Tan Zhongyi — ended in contrasting draws on Tuesday at the FIDE Women's World Cup. Both contests are evenly poised heading into the second day of the two-game battle at Batumi. While Divya's draw was short and quick, Humpy pulled out a new trick from her hat to unsettle her opponent before settling for a draw.
Such are the high standards that Indians set for themselves; even a draw against the world's best is now unimpressive in their own eyes as was evident from Divya's body language. Asked by FIDE if she was happy, particularly since she had the black pieces, Divya only offered: 'It's okay, I guess.'
'It was quite a short draw, so I don't really have many thoughts about the game,' shrugged the 19-year-old, who's yet to become a GM, after going toe-to-toe and holding her own against a player who was the women's world champion eight years ago. In the three previous games between the pair, the veteran Tan has won twice with Divya salvaging a draw in the final battle.
Ask GM Abhijit Kunte, who has seen Divya's rapid rise from close quarters, what that unimpressed reply says about Divya's mindset, and he says: 'In these kinds of mini-matches (games of two), you don't express anything. Because any positive or negative expression is bad for you. You have to remain neutral. And this kind of maturity at 19 is not easy to get. It's very rare.'
Kunte, who was the captain of the all-conquering Indian's women's team at the Chess Olympiad last year where Divya was one of the stars, traces her lightning-quick journey to the top: 'Just last year, Divya was a world junior champion. She has always been very brave, someone never afraid to experiment. But she had very limited exposure to the top brass of women's chess. Then she played at the Olympiad last year. This year, she's played in the FIDE Grand Prix events, which has helped immensely.'
So far, Divya has had a barnstorming FIDE World Cup, taking down the veteran grandmaster Harika Dronavalli in the quarters, and World No 6 Zhu Jiner in the previous two rounds.
Divya has also shown other stand-out attributes on the board. GM Shyamsundar Mohanraj, who is the head of delegation for the Indian team in Batumi and has given the country its last two GMs, points at her victory over the veteran Harika Dronavalli in the previous round via tiebreaks.
❓Who's your pick for the finals?
Game 1 of the semifinals was played today — and both ended in draws!
🇨🇳 Lei Tingjie ½–½ Humpy Koneru 🇮🇳 🇨🇳 Tan Zhongyi ½–½ Divya Deshmukh 🇮🇳 #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/Oldya1Hgc7
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 22, 2025
'I say this as an outsider, but Divya's endgame skills and her defensive skills have improved quite a lot in a very short span of time. In the first game against Harika of the tiebreaks, she played dynamic chess to win. But if you look at the second game, she defended very well in a minus position (a position where she had a disadvantage). In Game 2 of the tie-breaks, Divya defended very well despite being low on time. She was barely playing with seconds on the clock, and Harika had like 4-5 minutes. There was pressure because Divya was in a don't-lose situation,' says Shyamsundar.
At the other end of the spectrum is the veteran Humpy, who has already accounted for Alexandra Kosteniuk, one of the strongest players in the field, and the up-and-coming Chinese prodigy Song Yuxin. While Divya has stunned higher-rated opponents to script a fairytale story already, Humpy has been clinical: only once in the event has she needed tiebreaks to beat her opponent.
In the first game of the semi-final against Lei on Tuesday, Humpy played the Berlin Defence, which she has rarely employed over the course of her lengthy career. In fact, one of the only times she's played it was against Kosteniuk in the previous rounds. On Tuesday, it had the desired effect; it forced Lei to think for about 10 minutes after 4… Ne7, a well-known trap door.
'Three years back, I thought Humpy looked like she was on the verge of quitting. But in the last year, she has come back so strongly. Winning a medal at the World Rapid Championship, then being among the top places in the Women's Grand Prix. Her game is also very positive now: she doesn't agree to quick draws. At this age, many people try to make some quick draws and win some easy games and try to finish in the top. But she's fighting it out. That shows her positive attitude and aggression. It's like seeing a very young Humpy again,' says Kunte before adding with a smile: 'I think Humpy is trying to match Divya's age. And Divya is trying to match Humpy's experience and maturity.'
What makes Humpy's resurgence and Divya's emergence at the FIDE World Cup even more remarkable, points out GM Shyamsundar, is how tricky the World Cup is for any player, thanks to the treacherous format of two head-to-head battles and then tiebreaks if needed.
'The format is quite intense and very exhausting for the players. It's a best-of-2 battle. It's a dangerous format in a way and tricky. It's not like other Swiss tournaments (where you don't get eliminated) where even if you lose, you have an extra game to come back. But here, it's not like that. You never know when you will be leaving the tournament,' says Shyamsundar from Batumi.
Besides Humpy's resurgence and Divya's emergence, there have been other moments to cheer for Indian chess in Batumi. Like Vantika Agrawal taking down former women's world champion Anna Ushenina. Or four Indians making it to the quarters (R Vaishali and Harika beside Humpy and Divya).
He looks at the Indian players' performances and predicts a golden era like the one that men's chess is seeing in India.
'In India, despite the population, we have only had three women who have become GMs. But after seeing the results of these two players from different eras at the World Cup, players of any age in India will get inspired. This will definitely inspire and motivate many women players to take up sports,' says Shyamsundar.
Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More