HomeSports NewsWho is Divya Deshmukh? Nagpur chess prodigy bags World U-20 Chess Championship title
The 18-year-old hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra and has been a rising star in the chess circuit for the last few years. She has seen success in several important events, most importantly being her title-winning runs in the Indian Women’s Chess Championships in 2022 followed by the same at the Asian stage in the next year.
By CNBCTV18June 14, 2024, 12:53:54 AM IST IST (Published)
International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh won the World U-20 Junior Chess Championship held in Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Thursday.
Deshmukh beat Bulgarian Grand Master Beloslava Krasteva in the summit clash and bagged 10 points out of a possible 11 to make it a second win in a row after clinching the Sharjah Challengers back in May.
IM Divya Deshmukh is the World Junior Girls Chess Champion 2024! She scored a fantastic 10/11 points to win the tournament, finishing with a win in the final round.
Divya has a live rating of 2464 right now – she has entered the World top 20 Women! She is the fourth Indian woman… pic.twitter.com/DRglASn3MU
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) June 13, 2024
Winners of the 2024 World Junior Chess Championships♟️
Open
🥇🇰🇿 Nogerbek Kazybek
🥈🇦🇲 Ohanyan Emin
🥉🇷🇸 Budisavljevic LukaGirls
🥇🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh
🥈🇦🇲 Mkrtchyan Mariam
🥉🇦🇿 Allahverdiyeva Ayan pic.twitter.com/KTnUrma9Rv— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) June 13, 2024
“I learnt to deal with pressure and how to handle it. I also learnt how to play better in general,” she said in an interview after the game.
Who is Divya Deshmukh?
| Year | Event | Achievement |
| 2020 | FIDE Online Chess Olympiad (Team) | Gold medal |
| 2022 | Women’s Indian Chess Championship | Winner |
| 2022 | Chess Olympiad (Individual) | Bronze medal |
| 2023 | Asian Women’s Chess Championship | Winner |
| 2023 | Tata Steel India Chess Tournament (Women’s Rapid) | 1st place |
| 2024 | FIDE World U20 Girls Chess Championship | Champion |
The 18-year-old hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra and has been a rising star in the chess circuit for the last few years. She has seen success in several important events, most importantly being her title-winning runs in the Indian Women’s Chess Championships in 2022 followed by the same at the Asian stage in the next year.
Her live ranking currently as per FIDE standings is 2456, which is the highest peak that she has scaled so far. 2023 was also witness to her emerging as the champion of the TATA Steel India Chess Tournament (Women’s Rapid), and that streak of gold medals extended in the U-20 World Championships too.
