Chess

I'm an aggressive player, don't feel pressure: Chess champ Divya Deshmukh

Newly-crowned FIDE Women's Chess World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh on Thursday said she is an aggressive player for whom pressure does not matter much. The 19-year-old became the youngest to win the Women's World Cup, held in Batumi in Georgia, on July 28 after she outwitted Koneru Humpy in the tie-breaker of an all-Indian final. The victory not just earned her the prestigious title, but also made her a Grandmaster. Interacting with the press here, the chess sensation said it is easier for her to go into tactics and aggressive positions. "Pressure does not matter much to me. What matters is my own expectations and goals," Deshmukh asserted. Asked about frequent comparisons with the legendary former India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, hailed for his aggressiveness and mental toughness, Deshmukh said, "I think aggressiveness was always in my play. It is easier for me to go into tactics and aggresive positions. I think it is my style." Asked about similarities with D Gukesh,

GM Divya says she focused on performance, blocked out distractions

Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh has said she was not under any kind of pressure while playing the FIDE Women's World Cup final against compatriot Koneru Humpy as she had "nothing to lose". Divya arrived here on Wednesday from Batumi, Georgia to a reception befitting a world champion, with the young achiever overwhelmed by the affection shown by the the people at the airport. The 19-year-old overcame the 38-year-old Humpy, a two-time World Rapid champion, in the time-controlled tie-break after the two classical rounds ended in draws. This was Divya's biggest success in her career and came after Humpy blundered in the second tie-breaker under time pressure. "I never thought I was in any danger. I guess that the last blunder which she (Humpy) made, handed me the win," Divya told PTI Videos, when asked if she was under pressure in the final. "Since I had no results in my hand, so I was just trying to focus on my performance and wasn't thinking about anything else," said Divya, who entered t

Maharashtra cabinet honours Divya Deshmukh for world chess title win

The Maharashtra cabinet has passed a resolution congratulating Divya Deshmukh on being the youngest chess player to win the Women's Chess World Cup. The resolution was moved on Tuesday in the cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and comprising Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar and other ministers. Divya Deshmukh, the 19-year-old player from Nagpur, became the youngest to win the Women's World Cup on Monday as she outwitted the seasoned Koneru Humpy in the tie-breaker of an all-Indian final in Batumi, Georgia. CM Fadnavis on Monday announced the Maharashtra government will felicitate the newly crowned Grandmaster on her stellar achievement. "It is a moment of great joy that Nagpur and Maharashtra girl Divya Deshmukh has won the Women's World Cup and earned the Grandmaster title as well. She is the youngest chess player to win the prestigious international title," he said. In a statement on Monday, Fadnavis said Divya Deshmukh has inscribed the state's name in .

Divya hopes this is just the beginning after FIDE Women's World Cup win

Divya Deshmukh came to the star-studded FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 here as an underdog, hoping to at least win one Grandmaster norm in her journey to become a GM in the future. Little did the 19-year-old from Nagpur know that she would beat some of the best and biggest names in the sport to achieve three major milestones in a span of around three weeks -- secure a spot in the Candidates tournament next year, win the prestigious title and in the process, automatically become a Grandmaster. While becoming a GM is one of the toughest things in chess as a player needs to earn three GM norms in FIDE-approved tournaments events and cross the 2500 rating, things fell in place for the talented Nagpur player. FIDE has a rule that the winners of certain elite competitions can avoid the usual norm-and-rating route and become GMs directly. The Women's World Cup is one of those FIDE events where the winner straightaway becomes a GM if not already. "I need time to process it (victory). It think

Divya Deshmukh trumps Koneru Humpy to clinch maiden FIDE Women's WC title

The 2025 edition in Batumi, Georgia, has been nothing short of remarkable. For the first time, the Women's World Cup final was an all-Indian affair, going into Divya's favour in the tie-breaks

FIDE Women's World Cup Final 2025 HIGHLIGHTS: Divya beats Humpy to win all-Indian final

Humpy's mistake in the 2nd rapid game cost her the title as Divya capitalised and wins the big prize.

FIDE Women's World Cup Final Tie-break: Humpy vs Divya live time, streaming

The tie-breaker of the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 will take place on Sunday, July 27. If needed, the tie-break will then be played on Monday, July 28

FIDE Women's World Cup Final 2025 HIGHLIGHTS: Koneru-Divya game 2 ends in draw; tie breaker on Mon

Koneru vs Divya Women's Chess World Cup Final 2025 highlights: Both finalists are tied with one point each after two regular games and will now face each other in a tie-breaker round

FIDE Women's World Cup Final Game 2: Koneru vs Divya live time & streaming

The live streaming of the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 Final Game 2 will be available on FIDE's official YouTube channel in India

FIDE Women's World Cup final 2025 Game 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Divya, Humpy settle for 41 move draw

Koneru vs Divya Women's Chess World Cup final 2025 highlights: The two finalists will now face each other with all on stake in game 2 of the final on Sunday

FIDE Women's World Cup Final: Koneru vs Divya live time, format, streaming

The FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 champion will take home $50,000 (approximately ₹41.6 lakh), while the runner-up will earn $35,000 (around ₹29.1 lakh) in prize money

Koneru vs Divya: Who will become India's first FIDE World Champion?

In a first for Indian chess, the FIDE Women's World Cup will have a winner from the country with Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh set to fight it out in what could be anybody's game in the grand finale here on Saturday. It's the first in the event's history that two Indians are facing each other in the final. Both Humpy and Deshmukh have qualified for the Women's candidates' tournament next year after reaching the final here. On pure experience of playing big games, Humpy goes in the final as the favourite against compatriot Deshmukh. Humpy held her nerves to score a come-from-behind victory in the semifinals over Tingjie Lei of China in the tiebreaker on Thursday, while Deshmukh defeated former world champion Zhongyi Tan -- also of China -- in the second game of the last-four stage match. Grandmaster Humpy, 38, was the winner of the world women's rapid tournament and also tied for first at the women's grand prix in recent times and she has proved yet again that age is just a number

FIDE Women's World Cup: Humpy enters semifinals after draw with Song

Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy played out a fine counterattacking game to hold International Master Yuxin Song of China and march into the semifinals of the FIDE Women's Chess World Cup here on Sunday. Having won the first game with white pieces, Humpy was only a draw away from reaching the last four stage, and she achieved it after a keenly contested second game against the Chinese. With fourth place assured, Humpy will get two chances to reach the top three which will also guarantee her a place at next Women's Candidates' tournament for which the top three from here qualify. The all-Indian duel between Grandmaster D Harika and IM Divya Deshmukh ended in a draw which means that the two will battle it out in the tie-break games scheduled for Monday. Grandmaster R Vaishali ran out of luck as she lost from slightly better prospects against former world women's champion Zhongyi Tan of China. Vaishali who had drawn the first game lost by the same score as Song. Apart from Tan, top se

Datanomics: India's chess stock soars high, checkmating opponents

India has had a total of 87 GMs in its chess history

Arjun makes history, 1st Indian semifinalist in Freestyle Chess Grand Slam

Arjun won the first rapid game and drew the second, eliminating the Uzbek star in a format that rewards creativity over memorised openings.

Freestyle Chess: Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi advance; Carlsen out

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa took down world number one Magnus Carlsen en route the top-bracket quarterfinals along with Arjun Erigaisi at the USD 750,000 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour here. Praggnanandhaa continued the recent trend of Indian players outsmarting Carlsen and sent the Norwegian's campaign haywire on Wednesday. Carlsen has in recent weeks also been beaten by reigning world champion D Gukesh, who is not competing here. The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa was in his elements as he effectively deployed his pieces right from the word go and even though Carlsen got some chances, Praggnanandhaa crashed through with some imaginative manoeuvres. The loss against Praggnanandhaa had such a cascading effect on Carlsen that he lost another game against Wesley So in the next round and was shockingly eliminated from the top bracket by Levon Aronian of United States 2-0 in the final tiebreaker for the fourth spot that ensued. The 16-player event was divided into two groups of eight each and

Gukesh defeats Wei Yi, intensifies battle with Carlsen for Norway crown

Reigning world champion D Gukesh crossed another hurdle, beating China's Wei Yi in the ninth and penultimate round to earn three full points and emerge as a top contender, along with Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen, for the prestigious Norway Chess title here. With one round to go, Gukesh is placed second on 14.5 points, while five-time world champion Carlsen -- who fought back from a losing position to defeat American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana and earn full points -- is just half-a-point ahead in the six-player double round-robin tournament on Thursday. Gukesh will take on American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, while Carlsen will play Arjun Erigaisi in the deciding 10th round, with both hoping to prove a point in one-upmanship by claiming the title and a USD 69,000 prize purse. If defending champion Carlsen wins, it will be his seventh Norway Chess title dating back to 2016, while Gukesh would be hoping for his maiden triumph in two outings here. Another American GM, Hikaru Nakamur

Gukesh defends well, but must pick battles wisely, says Viswanathan Anand

D Gukesh's tenacity in the face of setbacks is admirable but he shouldn't make it a habit to wait for mistakes from his opponents when faced with difficult situations in long-drawn-out games, feels his mentor and former world champion Viswanathan Anand. The reigning world champion has pulled off wins against world number one Magnus Carlsen and world number four Arjun Erigaisi in the Norway Chess here, despite being in serious trouble, by provoking a struggle and forcing them to make mistakes. World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura has expressed surprise at the Indian's style, saying he has been lucky to have survived Carlsen and Erigaisi being in a losing position for most part in both the showdowns. "I feel he is a tenacious defender. People often give up and he just keeps on playing these totally lost positions, but not pointless ones. He plays the ones where he still has a little bit of counterplay and he finds resources to hang in there. And people get careless and fatigued," said Anand ...

World champion Gukesh headlines 15 Indians in Grand Swiss chess tournament

As many as 15 Indians, including world champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandha, Vaishali R and Koneru Humpy, have qualified for the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss, to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 3-16. Besides Gukesh and Praggnanandha, the other nine Indians taking part in FIDE Grand Swiss (Open) are: Arjun Erigaisi, Chithambaram Aravindh, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, Murali Karthikeyan, Abhimanyu Puranik and Aryan Chopra. Vaishali and Humpy will be joined by Harika Dronavalli and Divya Deshmukh in the Women's Grand Swiss. Vantika Agrawal has been named as a reserve player. As one of the most significant events in the chess calendar, the FIDE Grand Swiss offers players a direct pathway to the Candidates Tournament, the game's world governing body said. "The top two finishers in the Grand Swiss will secure spots in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, while the top two players in the Women's Grand Swiss will qualify for

Gukesh overcomes Erigaisi challenge to jump to second spot in Norway Chess

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. As has been the trend in Gukesh's campaign in this elite six-payer double round-robin tournament, the teenager, playing with white, showed nerves of steel to secure his second consecutive win, without going through the rigmarole of an Armageddon tie-break, to take sweet revenge for his loss to Erigaisi earlier in Round 2. The win, which came after a nerve-wracking victory against defending champion and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, saw Gukesh, 19, overtake the 34-year-old Norwegian on the points table with 11.5 points. This was also Gukesh's first win in three attempts against Erigaisi, who had beaten the world champion at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee to spoil his title-winning chances, and th