A former school principal of newly crowned chess champion from Nagpur Divya Deshmukh remembers her as a student with calm composure who started playing the board game when she was just five and also excelled in studies.
Kerala teenager Krishna Goutham shares the lead with World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, top Indian exponent Arjun Erigaisi, and Vladislav Artemiev.
She has a current rating of 1551.
Reigning classical World champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen were among the leaders after the first five rounds on the opening day of the FIDE World Rapid Championships in Doha on Thursday.
Teen prodigy Divya Deshmukh stunned seasoned grandmaster Koneru Humpy in a tense tiebreak to win the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, rewriting Indian chess history at just 19.
Harmanpreet Singh, Smriti Mandhana, Divya Deshmukh among five Indian stars nominated for BBC awards
Harika lost 1-0 to China's Hou Yifan
The Indian women chess masters will continue to keep the country's flag flying at the on-going FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 at Batumi, Georgia.
This is Koneru Humpy's second World Rapid title after she had triumphed in the 2019 edition in Moscow.
On pure experience of playing big games, Humpy goes in the final as the favourite against compatriot Deshmukh.
International Master Divya Deshmukh, who is waiting to become a Grandmaster, had a tough day in office as she was outplayed by Zhu Jiner of China in the return game of the pre-quarterfinals in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Thursday.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced a significantly relaxed dress code for next month's World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha, "allowing classic non-distressed jeans for both men and women", a year after the 'jeansgate' storm involving Magnus Carlsen at the same event.
D Gukesh will take on Magnus Carlsen in the opening round in what should be one of the most keenly-contested matches at the Norway Chess tournament.
...'you are 37. It's quite difficult when you get older to keep that motivation and stay sharp when required.'
Viswanathan Anand is the third Indian in the top 10, occupying the 10th spot with an ELO rating of 2750.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
Speaking to reporters, the CJI said his father and late KG Deshmukh were very close friends.
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar believes Indian chess is riding a wave of success and predicted a bright future for the sport in the country.
Grandmaster R Vaishali was so crestfallen following seven straight losses in the Chennai Grandmasters that she had made up her mind to pull out of the Grand Swiss tournament, but family support steered her to the event where she won the title to qualify for the Candidates next year.
'Sandbagging' means a player deliberately losing his games, along with it his rating points, so as to play in a lower rated player tournaments and win cash prizes.
Divya Deshmukh not only became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, she also instantly secured the prestigious Grandmaster title.
Rameshbabu Vaishali won the women's qualifier scoring 9.5 points out of 11 to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Blitz Championship.
Lots to look forward to in Indian sports as packed 2026 calender awaits
'Most of my birthdays I end up losing the game, so glad it did not repeat in the classical. When I was playing, I felt fine, but when I was losing, I was like, 'ok, not again'.
Divya Deshmukh came to the star-studded FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 in Batumi, Georgia, as an underdog, hoping to at least win one Grandmaster norm in her journey to become a GM in the future.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Women's candidates' chess tournament that will get underway in Toronto, Canada from Wednesday.
Deshmukh thanked the CM and the people of Nagpur for felicitating her.
India's global chess domination was lauded by President Droupadi Murmu in her address to the nation on Thursday
With Vantika's hard-earned victory there are still five Indians left in the last 32 stage of this US$691,250 prize money event with an additional bonus of making it to the Women's candidates' tournament slated in 2026 for the top three finishers.
International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
The men's team comprises Grandmasters D Gukesh, Gujrathi, Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh was welcomed by hundreds of supporters and her family upon her arrival in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Reigning World champion Dommaraju Gukesh's roller-coaster ride continues. The Indian Grandmaster suffered defeat in an Armageddon tie-break and slipped to tied-fifth place, while Arjun Erigaisi upset American world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura to maintain fourth position in the Norway Chess tournament.
Praggnanandhaa takes on a strong field at Grand Swiss, eyes Candidates berth
The world rapid champion Humpy got the better of Russian 6-5 to set up a last four clash with world No.1 Hou Yifan of China.
World rapid champion Koneru Humpy claimed her second title in the last two months by emerging triumphant at the Cairns Cup chess tournament following a draw against compatriot Dronavalli Harika in the ninth and final round, in St Louis, United States. Humpy, who was crowned World champion in December, finished the tournament with six points. The icing on the cake was that Humpy will gain five ELO rating points (the basis for international rankings) and move to second place in the world rankings.
'There are several talented players like R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, so the future is certainly bright.'
'Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial.'
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen recorded a flawless performance, securing victories against S L Narayanan
'Right now, I'm happy with the game that I played today. Tomorrow (Friday), hopefully, another good game I can play. And whatever the result will be, we'll see later. But yeah, just focusing on playing the game.'
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