Deshmukh thanked the CM and the people of Nagpur for felicitating her.
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.
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.
India's global chess domination was lauded by President Droupadi Murmu in her address to the nation on Thursday
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.
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.
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.
Lots to look forward to in Indian sports as packed 2026 calender awaits
Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh was welcomed by hundreds of supporters and her family upon her arrival in Nagpur on Wednesday.
'There are several talented players like R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, so the future is certainly bright.'
The Indian team includes country's number two Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy. B Adhiban and D Harika are the the reserves members. The field for the event includes six former world champions, plus 12 others who have been Candidates to the throne at some point.
Praggnanandhaa takes on a strong field at Grand Swiss, eyes Candidates berth
World No.1 Hou Yifan defeated Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran 7.5-2.5 to finish third.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen recorded a flawless performance, securing victories against S L Narayanan
The Grand Prix consists of four legs, with a total of 21 participants. Each of the 21 players participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs. Each GP is a 16-player knockout event.
Humpy, the world rapid champion, overcame her Chinese opponent in a close match with the Indian winning the decisive bullet game.
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
'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.'
The top seed has five points from as many rounds in the National Women's 'A' Chess Championship.
'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.'
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand came into his own with a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the second round after losing to his opponent in the first round.
Reigning World champion D Gukesh finally got his revenge on Magnus Carlsen as he pounced on a blunder by the World No 1 to defeat him for the first time in a classical game.
A draw would have sufficed but Grandmaster Koneru Humpy showed no mercy and recorded her second successive win against Shen Yang of China to storm into the semifinals of the World Women's Chess Championship in Nalchik (Russia).
The Indian GM beat Woman Grandmaster Xu Yuhua of China in the second game of the quarter-finals of the Women's World Chess championship.
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen clinched his seventh Norway Chess title after American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana did a good turn by defeating D Gukesh.
Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, who has also qualified for the Women's Candidates, has opted out of the women's section to compete with the best in business.
Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after round 7 of the Norway Chess.
The Indian GM beat Maxim Sorokin in the first round of the eight-match Ilapuram Grandmasters Chess tourney.
'When I started my first game on Day 3 I did not imagine I would be at the top. My hope was to reach top three. I didn't expect to play the tie-break games'
Despite splitting the point the Indian ace shares the lead with the Czech Grandmaster.
Vaishali, sister of the Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, scored impressive victories over Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Russia's Valentina Gunina on the opening day of the Blitz championship.
Koneru Humpy settled for a quick draw against reigning World champion Xu Yuhua of China in the fourth round, played after a day's break, in the women's Super Chess Tournament North Urals Cup at Krasnoturinsk, Russia. Humpy and Yuhua did not struggle much after playing the opening game and signed peace in 20 moves. Humpy was playing black.
Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh has revealed that navigating the pressure in a long, gruelling tournament like the FIDE Women's World Cup title was "quite stressful" but she was determined to go all the way after the tough matches in the lead-up to the title clash against Koneru Humpy in Batumi, Georgia, recently.
Koneru Humpy's non-participation in the event has not hampered the team's chances much as Vaishali has jumped significantly in rankings and is a force to reckon with in the women's circle.
Indoor Asian Games in Macau, with Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran and Koneru Humpy winning gold in individual Blitz chess and Geet Sethi grabbing second place in billiards singles.
Koneru Humpy defeated lowly placed Zeinab Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan to stay in title race as Zhao Xue of China defeated overnight leader and compatriot Yifan Hao to emerge on top after the eighth round of the Is Bank Ataturk women's Grand Prix chess tournament in Istanbul on Tuesday.
The Grandmaster shares the lead with Sriram Jha and R B Ramesh in the National 'B' chess championship.\n\n
The Indian GM drew her fifth round match against the Russian in the Irlapuram Grandmasters tournament in Vijaywada.
While Vaishali got the better of Ukraine's Inna Gopanenko in round eight, Rout defeated Russia's Baira Kovanova.
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