Who Is Divya Deshmukh? The First Indian Woman To Win FIDE Women's World Cup
All you need to know about Divya Deshmukh, India's latest Grand Master.
Nineteen-year-old Divya Deshmukh beat higher-ranked Koneru Humpy in tiebreaks to become the FIDE Women's World Cup Champion 2025, the first Indian to do so. With the win, she also directly secured the title of Grandmaster, becoming just the 88th from India to get there.
In the all-Indian Finals, which went to tiebreaks after a hard-graft on Sunday (July 27), Divya defeated Humpy 1.5-0.5. The first Rapid game ended in a draw, and Divya secured a brilliant win with the Black pieces to win the match. She's also the youngest to win the FIDE Women's World Cup.
'I think it was fate me getting the grandmaster title this way because before this I didn't even have one norm. Before this tournament I was thinking, where can I get a norm, and now I'm a grandmaster!" Divya said afterwards.
Both Divya and Humpy have qualified for the Candidates.
Divya, 19, already held the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and International Master (IM). She hails from Nagpur, Maharashtra and was born into a Marathi family. Her parents, Jitendra and Namratha Deshmukh, are doctors. She attended Bhavans Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir for her early education and began playing chess at a young age, quickly advancing through the ranks in Indian chess
Divya won the 2022 Women's Indian Chess Championship and was crowned India's 21st Woman Grandmaster in 2021. She helped India win the gold medal at the 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad and earned a bronze medal for herself at the 2022 Chess Olympiad.
Divya defeated elite players like Harika Dronavalli and Koneru Humpy to win the Asian Women's Chess Championship and the women's quick division of the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament in 2023. Her victories at the Sharjah Challengers in May 2024 and the FIDE World U20 Girls Championship in June made her just the fourth Indian to earn this title. She won the last round handily and finished with an outstanding score of 10/11.
At the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in London, she defeated world No. 1 Hou Yifan in a thrilling 74-move game.
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First Published:
July 28, 2025, 16:06 IST
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