On July 28, 2025, in Batumi, Georgia, a coastal city on the Black Sea, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh from Nagpur, Maharashtra made history. She became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup, a major global chess tournament. Her victory was even more special because she defeated another Indian legend, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, in the final match.
Before Divya’s win, no Indian had ever made it past the quarterfinals in this event. The previous best was Harika Dronavalli, who reached the quarterfinals in 2023. Now, Divya has broken that barrier, bringing home not just the title but also hope and pride for Indian chess fans.
The tournament featured 107 top women chess players from around the world. It lasted from July 6 to July 28, and offered a grand prize of $50,000, along with a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament — the next step toward challenging the world champion.
Divya’s path to the top was anything but easy. In the final match against Humpy, both classic games ended in draws. The first rapid tiebreak also ended in a draw. But in the second tiebreak, Divya kept her calm. Playing as Black, she took control when Humpy ran into time trouble. Divya won the game and the championship with a final score of 1.5–0.5 in the tiebreak.
Winning this title made Divya a Grandmaster (GM) — the highest title in chess. What’s even more surprising is that she didn’t have a single GM norm before this tournament. Normally, a player must earn three norms and reach a 2500 rating. But her World Cup victory gave her the title automatically. As she said afterward, “I think it was fate.”
Divya follows in the footsteps of Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, and R Vaishali, who have also earned the Grandmaster title. She is now only the third person to win this tournament, after Grandmasters Alexandra Kosteniuk (2021) and Aleksandra Graciano (2023).
The final was more than just a match between two great players — it was a celebration of Indian chess. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi both congratulated Divya and Humpy, calling their achievements a source of national pride. Even five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand praised the match as a proud moment for Indian women in chess.
Divya’s journey to the top involved defeating some of the strongest players in the world. She beat World No. 6 Zhu Jiner of China, veteran Indian Harika Dronavalli, former World Champion Tan Zhongyi of China, and finally, Humpy Koneru.
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Humpy, too, had an impressive run in the tournament, beating top Chinese players like Lei Tingjie and Song Yuxin, and also former World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. The final between her and Divya was truly a battle of nerves and skill.
Divya has had an impressive career even before this win. She won the Indian Championship in 2022, the Asian Championship in 2023, and performed well in several major tournaments. She was also part of the Indian team that won gold at the Chess Olympiad and has earned individual medals as well.
What makes this victory even more significant is that four Indian women — Humpy, Harika, Divya, and Vaishali — reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup this year. That has never happened before. It shows that India is now a global force in women’s chess.
This is a big shift from the past, where countries like China dominated the women’s chess world. In fact, five of the world’s top ten women players are still from China. But with this tournament, India has made it clear that it’s ready to lead the way — not just in men’s chess, but in women’s chess too.
Divya’s journey from a young girl learning chess in Nagpur to a world champion at 19 is more than a personal achievement. It’s a signal of change — a sign that the future of chess is Indian, and it has already arrived.
As chess legend Montesquieu once said, “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” In the same way, there is no greater moment than when a young champion rises, not just for herself, but for her country.
And on that day in Batumi, Divya Deshmukh did just that.
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