WGM Divya is national women chess champion

By Paritosh Pramanik

UNCONQUERED!

After nine rounds, seven wins and two draws, Woman Grandmaster (WGM) of Nagpur Divya Deshmukh is the new National Women Chess Champion 2022, probably the youngest woman to do so in 

the country.

The 16-year-old city lass, who became WGM last October, was playing only her third Over-The-Board Tournament since the Latvia competition in October. In Latvia, Divya played two tournaments after the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to play a series of online meets.

Those two OTB tournaments helped her gain momentum for this ‘actual chess’. On Wednesday, the talented and one of the most promising chess players of the country stunned all to claim the title with eight points from nine rounds at the MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship in Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

Once again, ‘A Wednesday’ which turned lucky for Divya as her final WGM norm was also secured on a Wednesday, October 13, 2021.

Divya gained valuable 25 ELO rating points and grabbed a  purse of Rs 5.50 lakh (US$ 7250) for her achievement.

WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra finished second while Andhra Pradesh’s WIM Priyanka Nutakki ended third.

Playing her ninth round on the top board against International Master and fifth seed Soumya Swaminathan of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), Divya, who was seeded eighth in the competition, played it safe for a quick 18-move draw to earn the half point she needed to wrest the crown.

On her way to the top of the standings, Divya started with a draw against Varshita Jain of Madhya Pradesh and then improved her game winning seven on the trot. She defeated Sherali Pattnaik of Uttarakhand, WFM A Harshini of Tamil Nadu, IM Nisha Mohta of PSBP, WIM Priyanka Nutakki of Andhra Pradesh, WIM Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra, Goa’s IM Bhakti Kulkarni, IM Vaishali R of Tamil Nadu before splitting point with Swaminathan.

“Divya played two OTB tournaments in Latvia last October. That has helped her prepare for this meet. She was playing those two tournaments after a long COVID-19 break,” said Dr Jitendra Deshmukh, Divya’s father, who was with her at Bhubaneswar.

On her title victory, Divya said it is yet to sink in and she is happy with the way things have panned out.

“Feeling happy even though I haven't completely digested it,” was all she had to say about the victory.

Divya said that the competition at Bhubaneswar was tough and all the matches were very interesting.

“The competition was quite tough as we had the best women players from all over the country. There was no easy game in the entire tournament,” added Divya.

Divya was not sure who was her toughest opponent but said that the game against top seed Vaishali was the most difficult and exciting one.

“I’m not sure who the toughest opponent was because everyone here was strong but the toughest game I would have to say was with R Vaishali of Tamil Nadu. The game got extremely intense towards the end and we both ended up with seconds on the clock,” explained Divya.

When she started her first round against Madhya Pradesh’s Varshita Jain, Divya was not aiming at the title shot. All she wanted was to play to the best of her abilities. But once she got into the groove and won six games on the trot, the thought of winning the coveted title crossed her mind.

“I guess around the 8th round (against Vaishali) I thought, maybe, I can clinch this for sure,” revealed Divya.

“Honestly speaking, I had no expectations regarding this tournament and I just wanted to give my best like in every other tournament. I don’t entirely know about the importance of this title win but it feels nice,” concluded Divya.