'It Was Fate I Became A GM This Way': Divya Deshmukh Reflects On Her Historic Win At FIDE Women's World Cup

Last Updated:July 28, 2025, 17:41 IST

Divya Deshmukh won the FIDE Women's World Cup by defeating Koneru Humpy in Georgia, becoming the first Indian to win the title and earning the Grandmaster rank.

Divya Deshmukh, India's 88th Grandmaster (X)

Destiny. Whether one believes in it or not, it is undeniable at times.

For young Indian chess ace Divya Deshmukh, it sure was destiny, as the IM (now-turned GM) secured the FIDE Women’s World Cup with an emphatic win against Koneru Humpy in Georgia on Monday.

A masterful rook endgame (littered with errors from both sides due to the pressure), aided by Humpy’s blunder, allowed the 19-year-old to sink the veteran in the second Rapid game of the tiebreak, to seal the victory.

An overwhelmed Divya broke into tears upon her achievement, and ran into the arms of her mother to share the historic moment, as she gathered herself to let the success sink in.

“I definitely need to learn endgames. I’m pretty sure that at some point, I messed it up," joked an emotionally overwhelmed Divya to FIDE right after her win.

The sweetest part of the victory for young Divya was not only the fact that she scripted history as the first Indian to win the acclaimed title in the Women’s category, but also that she is now promoted to the rank of Grandmaster (GM): a title she never imagined she’d achieve in this dramatic fashion.

“I think it was fate that I got 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!" stated an excited Divya.

“It definitely means a lot, but there’s a lot more to achieve. So, hopefully, this is just the start."

How The Final Unfolded

Both finalists already made history, becoming the first-ever Indians to qualify for the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup, after which both players went on to schedule the first-ever All-Indian final at the event.

Game 1 of the Final was a nail-biting draw, which saw Divya throw away her lead with the white pieces, allowing the veteran Humpy to fight her way back into the game and force the draw.

Game 2 on Sunday saw the duo battle it out in yet another fascinating draw, where Humpy seemingly lost the advantage of starting with the white pieces, as the young buck Divya fought her way back to force the veteran to tiebreaks.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Siddarth Sriram

After training in the field of broadcast media, Siddarth, as a sub-editor for News18 Sports, currently dabbles in putting together stories, from across a plethora of sports, onto a digital canvas. His long-term...Read More

After training in the field of broadcast media, Siddarth, as a sub-editor for News18 Sports, currently dabbles in putting together stories, from across a plethora of sports, onto a digital canvas. His long-term...

Read More

News18 Sports brings you the latest updates, live commentary, and highlights from cricket, football, tennis, badmintion, wwe and more. Catch breaking news, live scores, and in-depth coverage. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated!

Location :

First Published:

News sports 'It Was Fate I Became A GM This Way': Divya Deshmukh Reflects On Her Historic Win At FIDE Women's World Cup