Divya Deshmukh first teen after Koneru Humpy to emerge senior national chess champion

Divya Deshmukh has become Nagpur’s first senior national women's chess champion. After India’s best woman master Koneru Humpy won the title in 2003, Divya is the first teenager to win the senior title. Much like the Khadilkar sisters’ dominance from 1974-83 and a 16-year-old Humpy’s achievement in 2003, Divya did the unthinkable at the 47th National Women’s Chess Championship in Bhubaneshwar on Wednesday. While the three Khandilkar sisters — Vasanti (1974), Jayshree (1975) and Rohini (1976) — became national women's chess champions when they were 13, Humpy achieved the same at 16 years, 7 months, 20 days in 2003. By winning the title at 16 years, 2 months, 22 days, Divya became India’s fourth-youngest player to win the title since the tournament began in 1974. When Harika Dronavalli won the nationals in 2009, she was 19 years old. At 20, Padmini Rout clinched the title in 2014 while winning the event four successive times. Ranked 10th among the Indian women masters, Divya was in the form of her life as she remained unbeaten to finish on top of the table in the strong field of 103 players by a full point. Divya finished the nine-round event with 8 points. After being held to a draw by a lower-ranked player in the opening round, Divya not only toppled the top-seeded Vaishali R, but also defeated two-time defending champion Bhakti Kulkarni while posting seven successive victories. She played out a quick draw with Soumya Swaminathan in the final round on Wednesday.

The eighth-seeded and 2301 Elo Divya earned 24.4 Elo points while winning a handsome prize money of Rs5.5 lakh. Becoming a national champion as a teenager is difficult for Divya herself to believe. “It’s hard to believe but I have to believe it. I had zero