NAGPUR: Once a princess in the game of 64 squares, Divya Deshmukh has now become a queen by wearing the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) crown which sparkled all the more with the addition of her second International Master (IM) norm.
In her first over-the-board (OTB) outing post a 19-month pandemic break, the 16-year-old Divya continued from where she left off and became Vidarbha's first and India's 22nd WGM.
Maharashtra's youngest Women International Master achieved the rare feat while playing in an international rating tournament at Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday.
In the 10-day, nine-round tournament, Divya (Elo 2305) held four higher rated title holders, won three games, lost two and cleared both the WGM and IM norms.
After playing out a draw against Singapore's FM Siddharth Jagadeesh in the penultimate round, Divya cleared the third and final norm and became the city's only WGM.
Continuing with her fine form, she held Papp Levente of Hungary to a draw in the final round and got her second norm and took a step closer to become the country's latest IM.
Earlier, Divya drew her game against Hungary's GM Seres Lajos in the second round and scored an upset win over Serbian GM Pap Misa in the fifth round.
To become a WGM, a player needs to achieve three norms and cross an Elo rating of 2300. Similarly, to become an IM, a player is required to clear three norms and have a rating of over 2400 Elo. In Budapest, Divya gave a performance rating of 2452. She also earned 17.7 international rating points.
More than her dual achievements, Divya was elated to play an OTB event after the big break due to the Covid pandemic. "Honestly, I was not expecting anything since I was playing after 19 months. I just wanted to get into the rhythm before the Women Grand Prix in Riga," Divya told TOI. The city lass was given a wildcard entry for one of world's best tournaments in Riga where the top 50 women players will vie for the honours.
The last OTB event that Divya played was the Aeroflot Open in February 2020 at Moscow, Russia, before international travel restrictions were imposed.
"I missed every bit of this, and I am so glad to be playing again. Playing an OTB event after a big break, I didn't feel like anything changed at all. The intense atmosphere, the vibe, the anxiety during time crunches, the nervousness, the great games, and just about everything. Hoping to play some more good chess in the upcoming tournaments," she tweeted.
In the same Aeroflot Open in 2019, Divya cleared her second WGM norm while achieving the required rating points. Her first norm came in the Velammal International Women's Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament in Tamil Nadu in the same year.
According to the International Chess Federation (Fide) website, India has 11 WGMs. Before Divya, Delhi's Vantika Agrawal became the country's latest WGM as all the other women players have either become an IM or GM.
About her next target, Divya signed off by saying, "I just want to play good chess."
