Divya writes another remarkable teen success story in Indian chess

The 19-year-old beats Koneru Humpy in the second rapid tiebreak game to become the first Indian and the youngest to be crowned Women’s World Cup champion

- Rutvick Mehta

Amidst a galaxy of Grandmasters (GM) and women chess stars, a teenaged Indian International Master (IM) walked into the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup as the 15th seed without a single GM norm.

That teen from Nagpur walked away with the tag of a World Cup champion in Batumi, Georgia, a fast-tracked GM title and abundant tears of joy. No wonder Divya Deshmukh, moments after sealing her win and embracing her equally emotional mother, breathlessly told FIDE: “I need time to process it.

There's plenty to process for this 19-year-old brand new chess star. Divya beat Koneru Humpy, a compatriot twice her age and the first Indian woman to become GM, in the second rapid game of the final that went into tiebreaks, after the classical games on Saturday and Sunday were drawn.

Divya became the first Indian, and the youngest, to wear the tag of a Women's World Cup champion. She pocketed a winner's cheque of $50,000 and sealed a spot, with Humpy, in the 2026 Women's Candidates. She earned her GM title as one of the few players in history to do so by winning a major FIDE tournament while bypassing the usual route of three GM norms and the 2500 rating.

Welcome to the club, India's 88th GM overall, and only the fourth woman. “I think it is fate - me getting the GM title this way,” an emotional Divya told FIDE. “Before this tournament I was thinking, ‘Oh, where can I get my norm? And now, Ima Grandmaster.”