Mumbai: A lot has changed for Divya Deshmukh in a little over three months. The teen wore the FIDE Women’s World Cup crown as the first Indian and the youngest ever in late July, carried the promoted title of Grandmaster (GM) from International Master (IM), and earned the 2026 Women’s Candidates spot.
She returned to her hometown Nagpur to the sight and sound of fast-clicking shutterbugs, garland-showering officials and a flowing flock of well-wishers. Such unprecedented spotlight is set to remain on the 19-year-old by the bustling beaches of Goa.
Amid a stacked 206-player field at the FIDE World Cup starting Saturday, Divya will be the only female in the mix as a FIDE wildcard after China’s women’s world No.1 Hou Yifan and world champion Ju Wenjun declined an invitation.
How about that for some more limelight – in a World Cup in India, no less?
“She is someone who is a natural at dealing with the spotlight. She enjoys the visibility, which a lot of other chess players tend to shy away from,” GM Srinath Narayanan, who briefly trained Divya, said. “I feel the added spotlight is unlikely to add a lot of pressure, because the expectations are not that high.”
The Women’s World Cup winner is competing in an open World Cup where there are 149 men with a higher rating than Divya’s 2498 in classical. Her first-round opponent, Greek Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, has a higher rating (2583) than the finalist she beat in the Women’s World Cup, Koneru Humpy.
Srinath likened Divya playing this World Cup to a person lifting a much heavier weight than they are used to, but something that is “important to get stronger”.
“She will gain a lot in terms of her journey to becoming a stronger chess player,” said Srinath. “This tournament gives her an opportunity to play stronger opposition, and since the challenge is so much higher, it gives her a proper opportunity for growth.”
Divya has competed in a few Open events this year. The most recent was at the Grand Swiss last month, where she gave a good account of herself with two wins and six draws from 11 rounds in a high-quality field. One of her draws came against reigning world champion Gukesh D.
“We are confident that it will be really helpful for her,” GM Abhijit Kunte, who has worked closely with Divya, said of her World Cup gig. “She played very well at the Grand Swiss. Playing in more men’s events with such a strong field, you need to prepare and need to be tougher. All these things will help her in her bid for the Women’s World Championship.”
Srinath, who was the coach of India’s 2018 World Youth Under-16 Olympiad team that featured Divya, reckoned the teen turning up for more Open tournaments, especially those like the World Cup, from a young age will not only help with her exposure but also the conditioning.
“Playing against a more limited set of competition limits yourself,” he said. “From a psychological viewpoint also, this offers her a completely different challenge. The kind of respect she would receive among the women players, it would be completely different in the Open section, where people would be looking to beat her. Against another woman player where they might agree to a draw in a certain position, people will look to beat her in a similar kind of situation here.”
This is somewhat uncharted territory for Divya, certainly so as a wildcard in a World Cup at home. There may therefore be, as Srinath put it, a bit of “uncertainty towards what she might face and how she might do”. The teen, though, will gradually “feel more at home” as she competes in more such events on her path to next year’s Women’s Candidates.
“Practically, I would expect her to reach Round 2 (in Goa),” Srinath said. “Although her opponent in the first round will be a challenge, I expect her to give her best. And going up to Round 2 will be a significant achievement already.”
Nihal Sarin awaits the winner of Divya versus Stamatis. Divya will approach this tournament with a “nothing to lose” attitude, said Srinath. The teen carried a similar approach in July, when she entered the Georgian city of Batumi as a 15th-seeded IM competing in a World Cup and walked out a champion.
In three months, Divya has gone from being an underdog in the FIDE Women’s World Cup, to the only woman competing at the FIDE World Cup.
“It all adds up to her strength and growth as a player,” Srinath said. “Regardless of how it turns out, this experience itself will help her a lot.”
— With inputs from Shahid Judge
