Batumi (Georgia): Teenaged Indian chess player Divya Deshmukh became the youngest to win the Women’s World Cup here on Monday as she outwitted the seasoned Koneru Humpy in the tie-breaker of an all-Indian final which left the youngster emotionally overwhelmed.
The victory not just earned the 19-year-old the prestigious title, but also made her a Grandmaster, something which looked improbable when she started the tournament.
The victory for the Nagpur player came after the two classical games played on Saturday and Sunday ended in draws.
After the drawn games, it was the first set of tiebreakers that proved decisive as Humpy lost the battle of nerves. Except the World Cup and the Women’s World Championship, Humpy has won everything under the sun but, and as fate would have it the World Cup title eluded her again.
Deshmukh showed steely resolve on Monday, and the bonus for the determination was the Grandmaster title — reserved for the champion of this event.
Deshmukh is now the fourth Indian woman player to achieve the GM feat after Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R Vaishali.
Humpy, 38, became a Grandmaster in 2002 and Divya was born in 2005.
For the record, Deshmukh became the 88th Grandmaster of the country and if she continues to remain resolute in her endeavour, she has the ability to achieve great success.
Deshmukh was a bundle of energy as she kept piling pressure on Humpy in the opening tiebreaker, tiring out her illustrious opponent and then going for the kill in the return tiebreaker.
Out of a Petroff defense, Deshmukh got an isolated Queen pawn middle game and sacrificed a pawn to give Humpy better prospects in the opening tiebreaker. However, Humpy returned the favour with her clock ticking away, and soon enough she was staring at a position where she had a rook, bishop and a pawn against Deshmukh’s Queen.
The position, however, remained close to being equal and Humpy drew quite easily in the end.
In the return game, Humpy employed the Catalan opening. Deshmukh was well prepared as she equalised without much ado. Humpy had sacrificed a pawn early but the ensuing queen-and-rook endgame was just a draw.
It was on the 40th move that Humpy lost her cool and tried to invade the opposition through a pawn sacrifice. Deshmukh could have done better but the rook-and-pawns endgame she reached was still a draw.
This was Deshmukh’s day as Humpy again ran a bit short of time and blundered in the endgame again, leading to a theoretically win position for the younger Indian.
The fortunes in this game fluctuated between a draw and a win for Divya for a long time, till the Nagpur girl prevailed.
An emotional Deshmukh couldn’t hold back her tears following the victory against an opponent twice her age.
“I need time to process it (win). I think it was fate, me getting the Grandmaster title this way because before this (tournament) I didn’t even have one (GM) norm, and now I am the Grandmaster,” said Divya.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, who was keenly following the game, hailed the teenager’s win and called it a “great celebration of Indian chess”.
“Congratulations to @Divyadeshmukh05 on winning the World Cup. Becoming GM and a spot in the candidates. Amazing battle of nerves. @humpy_koneru played a very good event and showed a commendable fighting spirit. The great champion she is! It was a great celebration of Indian chess, particularly Women’s chess,” wrote Anand on ‘X’.
