Divya Deshmukh (born 9 December 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. She has won two gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals at the Women's Chess Olympiad. Deshmukh won the Women's Chess World Cup 2025 and qualified for the Grandmaster title becoming the seventh woman to obtain the title as a teenager. She has also won golds at the Asian Championship, the World Junior Championship and the World Youth Championship. She won the women's edition of National Premier Chess Championship in both 2021 and 2022 consecutively.
Early life Deshmukh was born in Nagpur to a Marathi family. Her parents Namrata and Jitendra Deshmukh are both doctors. She has an elder sister.https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2020/4/18/How-Dad-s-hobby-made-Divya.html She studied at Bhavan's Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir during her schooling days.
Career Deshmukh won the 2013 National Under-9 Girls' Championship in Chennai.
2020–2023: Early rise In 2020, Deshmukh was part of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad. In 2022, she won the National Women's Chess Championship. She won an individual bronze medal at the 2022 Women's Chess Olympiad.
In 2023, she won the Asian Continental Women, going undefeated with the score 7½/9 (+6-0=3).
In September 2023, Deshmukh won the rapid section of Tata Steel Chess India with a score of 7/9, despite being the lowest-rated player in the field. During the tournament, she defeated Harika Dronavalli, Vantika Agrawal, Koneru Humpy, Savitha Shri B, Irina Krush, and Nino Batsiashvili. She also drew against World Champion Ju Wenjun, and suffered her only loss to Polina Shuvalova.
2024: Olympiad double gold In January, Deshmukh played in the Challengers-section, in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024. In May, Deshmukh was the winner of Sharjah Challengers, a large open tournament win that earned her a spot in the Sharjah Masters the following year.
In June, she became the 2024 World U20 Chess Champion. She became the fourth Indian to win the title after Humpy Koneru in 2001, Harika Dronavalli in 2008, and Soumya Swaminathan in 2009. Needing a win in the final round, she was the victor against Bulgaria’s third seed Beloslava Krasteva in a five-hour marathon battle to secure 10 points and won the gold.
At the 45th Chess Olympiad in September, Deshmukh was part of the Indian team that won gold medal in the Women's section in Budapest. She helped team India win the gold medal, scoring 9.5/11 on Board 3 with a performance rating of 2608. She also earned an individual gold medal for the best performance on her board.
2025: World Cup and Grandmaster title In January 2025 Deshmukh played, in the Challengers-section, in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025. In June, she played for the Hexamind Chess Club at the World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championships held in London. In the blitz semifinals she defeated women’s world no. 1 Hou Yifan in a 74-move rook-vs-bishop endgame, marking her first-ever victory over the Chinese grandmaster. This was one of her 6 wins across 8 blitz games, earning her a performance rating of 2606 and the team's bronze medal finish in the blitz event. The team also won the silver in the rapid section she scored 8 out of 12 points with a performance rating of 2420. Deshmukh also won an individual bronze.
Deshmukh was seeded 15th in the Women's Chess World Cup 2025. She defeated 2nd seed Zhu Jiner 2.5–1.5 in the fourth round, 10th seed Harika Dronavalli 3–1 in the quarterfinals, and 3rd seed Tan Zhongyi 1.5–0.5 in the semifinals. In the final, she defeated 4th seed Koneru Humpy 2.5–1.5 to win the tournament. With this win, she earned the grandmaster title, which is directly awarded to the winner of the World Cup without requiring the usual three norms. She became India's 88th grandmaster and the fourth Indian woman to become a grandmaster. Additionally, she qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026.
Deshmukh participated in the open section of FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2025 as the 115th seed of 116 players. She finished 81st with a score of 5/11 (+2-3=6), winning games against Bassem Amin and Velimir Ivić. She drew the reigning World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in round 8.
Divya played for Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo team in the European Chess Club Cup, the team won gold medal and she won the gold medal for board 2 with the score 4.5/6.
Deshmukh was given a presidential nominee for the Chess World Cup 2025, She was elimanated in the first round by GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis.
2026: Candidates and Invitationals Deshmukh participated in Challenger section of Prague International Chess Festival. She finished 3rd with two wins and one loss.
Deshmukh participated in Women's Candidates Tournament, She was tied for 1st with four other players after 8 rounds, but lost 4 and drew 2 of the remaining 6 games to finish 7th with the score 5.5/14.
In May-June Deshmukh participated in Norway Chess Women, She defeated Zhu Jiner in round 5 to find herself in sole lead, but lost her 6th round game to World Champion Ju Wenjun, She played leader Bibisara Assaubayeva in round 8 and had a promising position but blundered under time pressure to lose, She consecutively lost the next two rounds to finish on 5th place. She was part of the Hexamind Chess Team that won bronze in the World Rapid Team Chess Championships. In August, She finished tied 5-7th at Cairns Cup scoring wins against Vaishali R and Alexandra Kosteniuk and losing to tournament leaders Tan Zhongyi and Alice Lee.
In September, Deshmukh was part of the Indian women's team that won the Bronze medal in the Women's event of the 46th Chess Olympiad, She won the Individual silver on Board 3 with performance rating of 2464 and score 6½/10 (+4=5-1). She was also awarded the FIDE excellence award for Best Chess Player (Female)
Performance record + Women's Chess World Cup 2025 Seed Name Game 1 Game 2 Tiebreaker 1 Tiebreaker 2 Total 15 Divya Deshmukh½½½1 2½ 4 Humpy Koneru½½ ½ 0 1½
LegendWomen's Classical international and national individual and team tournamentsWomen's Tournaments organized by FIDE (Olympiads, World Cups, Grand Swiss, Candidates Tournaments, Grand Prix, World Championships)Non classical (rapid, blitz and online)Open Tournaments TPR (Tournament Performance ratings) of FIDE-rated events calculated according to FIDE.FIDE Title Regulations 1.48 and 1.49 . Fide.com + Tournament results Year City Tournament Time control Wins Losses Draws Points Place TPR 2026 Samarkand46th Chess Olympiad, Women's eventTeam Classical (Board 3)7 41 13 58½/11 6½/10 3rd Silver — 2464 BengaluruGlobal Chess League 2026Global Chess LeagueRapid0484/122nd (team)– St. LouisCairns CupClassical2254½/95-72490Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship 2026Women's Speed Chess ChampionshipBlitz & Bullet219423/345-8– Hong Kong World Rapid and Blitz team Chess ChampionshipsFIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championship, Hexamind Chess Team Rapid Blitz 3 1 3 4½/7 3rd (Team) 4th (Team) 2422 OsloNorway Chess WomenClassical Armageddon1 44 15 –5th2427PegeiaWomen's Candidates TournamentClassical2575½/147th2443PraguePrague ChallengersClassical2165/93rd2601 Kolkata Tata Steel Chess India Rapid Blitz 2 6 2 7 5 5 4½/9 8½/18 3rd 7th 2366 2324 2025 DohaWomen's World Rapid 2025Women's World RapidRapid5157½/118th2435Women's World Blitz 2024Women's World BlitzBlitz8439½/1522nd2346 GoaChess World Cup 2025Classical0200/2128-206– RhodesEuropean Chess Club Cup 2025 European Chess Club Cup, Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo (Team)Team Classical (Board 2)6 3 0 0 1 3 6½/7 4½/6 1st Gold – 2591 SamarkandFIDE Grand Swiss 2025Classical 2365/1181st2613Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship 2025Women's Speed Chess ChampionshipBlitz & Bullet1610719½/335-8– Batumi Women's Chess World Cup 2025 Classical Rapid (15+10) 4 4 1 0 7 2 7½/12 5/6 Winner 2627 London World Rapid and Blitz Teams 2025FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championship, Hexamind Chess Team Rapid Blitz 5 1 6 8/12 2nd (Team) 3rd (Team) 2419 SharjahSharjah Master 2025 Sharjah Masters 2025Classical1353½/968th2408 PuneFIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-25Classical4235½/93rd2533 NicosiaFIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-25Classical1264/97th2441 PraguePrague ChallengersClassical2523/97th2441 Wijk aan ZeeTata Steel ChallengersClassical2833½/1312th2376 2024 New YorkWomen's World Rapid 2024Women's World RapidRapid6327/1121st2341Women's World BlitzWomen's World BlitzBlitz6327/1118th2363 Kolkata Tata Steel Chess India Rapid Blitz 2 6 4 9 3 3 3½/9 7½/18 7th 9th 2407 2338 ShymkentFIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-25Classical1174½/95-62474 Vrnjacka BanjaEuropean Chess Club Cup 2024 European Chess Club Cup, Garuda Ajka BSK (Team)Team Classical (Board 2)5 1 1 1 1 45½/7 3/6 2nd 4th – 2405 Budapest45th Chess Olympiad45th Chess Olympiad, Women's eventTeam Classical (Board 3)9 81 01 29½/11 9/111st Gold — 2608 Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi Masters 2024 Abu Dhabi MastersClassical4146/927th2562 GandhinagarWorld Juniors 2024 World Junior Girls ChampionshipClassical90210/11Winner2520 SharjahSharjah Challengers 2024 Sharjah ChallengersClassical5047/9Winner2584 MenorcaMenorca Open 2024 Menorca OpenClassical4325/984th2365 GrenkeGrenke Open 2024 Grenke OpenClassical6127/931-332585 DjerbaDjerba Masters 2024 Djerba Chess FestivalClassical0431½/78th2383 Wijk aan ZeeTata Steel Challengers Classical3734½/1312th2471 2023 DohaQatar Masters Open 2023Qatar Masters 2023 Classical4325/961st2498 BydgoszczWomen's World Team Chess Championship 2023Women's World Team Chess Championship Team Rapid (Board 3) 2 2 3 1 0 1 4/10 2½/4 5th –– KolkataTata Steel Chess IndiaRapid Blitz 6 8 1 5 2 5 7/9 10½/18 1st 4th 2618 2405 Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi MastersAbu Dhabi Masters Classical 3 4 2 4/9 90th 2473 Astana Astana Zhuldyzdary tournamentAstana Zhuldyzdary tournament Classical 4 4 2 5/10 52nd 2312 Ahmedabad National Women's 2023National Premier Chess Championship Classical 7 3 1 7½/11 8th 2075 Almaty Asian Women's 2023Women's Asian Individual Chess Championship Classical 6 0 3 7½/9 1st 2485 Baku Open 2023Baku Open Classical 4 3 2 5/9 37th 2520 Coimbatore National Team Women's 2023 National Women's Team Chess Championship Team (AAI) Classical (Board 2) 6 7 0 0 1 0 6½/7 7/7 Winner Gold - 2665 2022 Kolhapur National Women's 2022National Premier Chess Championship Classical 8 0 3 9½/11 Winner 2416
Awards Year Award Result 2025 BBC Emerging player of the Year 2026 Arjuna Award 2026 FIDE Excellence Awards, Best Chess Player (Female)
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