Divya Deshmukh is an Indian chess player from Maharashtra who became the National women’s chess champion in 2022.
Wiki/Biography
Divya Deshmukh was born on Friday, 9 December 2005 (age 16 years; as of 2022) in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Her zodiac sign is Sagittarius. She did her schooling at Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Nagpur.
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Divya’s father’s name is Dr. Jitendra Deshmukh, who is a gynaecologist. Her mother’s name is Dr. Namrata Deshmukh, who is also a gynaecologist. She has a sister, Arya Deshmukh, who is studying law.
Career
Gold Medals:
- 2012: Asian School Chess Championship (two medals)
- 2012: National Championship, Pondicherry
- 2013: Asian Youth Chess Championship
- 2013: National Championship, Chennai
- 2014: World Under 10 Girls Chess Championship in Durban, South Africa
- 2014: Asian Youth Championship
- 2014: School (Games) Federation Of India Championship
- 2016: Asian Youth Championship (two medals)
- 2016: National School Championship
- 2017: World Cadets Chess Championship in Pocos de Caldas, Brazil
- 2017: Asian Youth Championship
- 2017: National U-13 Girls Championship
- 2019: Commonwealth Championships
- 2020: FIDE Online Chess Olympiad
Silver Medals:
- 2014: National Chess Championship
- 2015: National Championship
- 2016: Asian Youth Championship
Bronze:
- 2012: National School Chess Championship
- 2014: National School Championship
- 2015: World Youth in the U- 10 girls category in Halkidiki, Greece
- 2016: World Youth Championship
Facts/Trivia
- Her FIDE rating as of February 2022 is 2301.
- Her hobbies include painting, archery, and flower breeding.
- Divya started practising chess at the age of six. Before playing chess, she used to play badminton but had to switch the game due to her short height.
- In an interview, Divya’s mother said that Divya used to notice her father who used to play chess as a hobby and got interested in the game. She was five years old when she won her first award.
- In 2021, she became India’s 21st Woman Grand Master (WGM) after achieving her 2nd International Master (IM) at Grand Master held in Budapest, Hungary.
- In March 2022, she became Nagpur’s first senior national women’s chess champion after Koneru Humpy who won it in 2003. After winning the national tournament, she shared her feelings and said,
It’s hard to believe but I have to believe it. I had zero expectations while heading to this tournament as I just wanted to play my best.”
- In 2022, she became the second-ranked woman chess player in India.
- In March 2022, the Maharashtra Chess Association awarded her with a cash prize of Rs. 50000 for winning the MPL 47th National women’s Championship held at Bhubaneshwar.
- In an interview, her coach, RB Ramesh talked about how intelligent Divya was and said,
Divya is a very talented and hard working girl. She has been making steady progress in her playing strength and her rating has also been increasing steadily as a result. She is very sure of herself and does not doubt her abilities at the same time very down to earth. I am very happy that she very deservingly won the world title.”
- She takes inspiration from chess player Viswanathan Anand.
- She is a passionate animal lover and often posts pictures of them on social media.