CHENNAI: GEORGIA is so rich, so steeped in chess culture that it's mandatory for kids to learn the basics of the board game. Once they are done with the basics, it becomes a school elective where they may learn about the game's greats, history and so on.
So, it wouldn't be out of place if a lot of Georgian kids come to know about Divya Deshmukh's exploits in Batumi on the Black Sea. At the ongoing women's World Cup there, the Nagpur teen has enjoyed a thrilling ride. Now, she stands on the cusp of global glory, two games away from becoming the second Indian, man or woman, to win the event (Viswanathan Anand had won it in 2000 and 2002).
After enjoying serene progress in the earlier rounds, Deshmukh has laid waste to three GMs, including the second seed Jhu Ziner in the round of 16. Post that win, she beat D Harika before the madcap victory over Tan Zhongyi in the semifinal on Wednesday.
At one point on Wednesday, she was losing. At one point on Wednesday, she thought it it would be a draw after misjudging a totally winning position. At one point on Wednesday, she had to defend. However, what didn't change was her spirit, the will to fight and grind.
That, according to two of her earliest coaches, is what set her apart when she was coming up through the system. "She has always been a fighter," said RB Ramesh, the acclaimed coach who has given wings to the dreams of many a chess player (the 19-year-old, in her formative years, had spent many an hour shuttling between Nagpur and Chennai to be part of Ramesh's group sessions at his academy). "She just really wanted to play a lot of chess," said Srinath Narayanan, the GM who worked extensively with Deshmukh in 2020, said. "Her spirit was always great."
Narayanan, one of the men behind the India U-16 team winning silver at the age-group Olympiad in 2018, met Deshmukh there for the first time. He picked up the story. "She had an x-factor even then," he said. "A penchant for closing out those big games. She was considerably weaker than the boys (the format was such that each team had to have at least one girl and there were no separate boards for girls). Her start wasn't that great but her spirit was geared towards more and she played a big role in us winning the decider (to win silver)."
India played Iran, with a certain Arjun Erigaisi on Board 1. Each of the top three boards were draws but Deshmukh brought home a big win to help India to silver. After a year or so, Narayanan spent a lot of time online training the youngster. "She's much more of an all-round player now," he said. "She used to be a lot more one dimensional. She used to be very aggressive but has now become matured. She is capable of playing a wide variety of positions."
After the stint with the Chennai GM, she took a break from active chess to concentrate on her academics. Her comeback, though, was in some style as she won the nationals in 2022. Even before that crown, she was identified as one of the next big things. In 2024, she won a brace of gold at the women's Olympiad (individual and team).
Now, she has the chance to go where no Indian women has managed to go before.
