15-Year-Old Divya Deshmukh Becomes India's 21st Woman Grand Master

Divya Deshmukh, a 15-year-old girl won First Saturday Grand Master (GM)in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday and became India's 21st Woman Grand Master.

With the First Saturday GM win, Deshmukh has now won two International Master games. With five points in nine rounds, the teenager got a rating of 2452 and secured her final Woman Grand Master norm.

Sports Authority of India tweeted the news and wrote, "@DivyaDeshmukh05, 15, becomes India's 21st Woman Grand Master (WGM) after achieving her 2nd IM (her final WGM norm) at First Saturday GM October 2021, Budapest. She scored 5/9 with a 2452 rating to secure her final WGM norm. Many congratulations Divya."

The chess player took to her official Twitter account and wrote about how she missed playing Over the Board (OTB) chess. She said that she played OTB after two years and felt that nothing had changed at all. "The intense atmosphere, the vibe, the anxiety during time crunches, the nervousness, the great games, and just about everything. Missed every bit of this and I'm so glad to be playing again," tweeted Deshmukh.

In another tweet, she wrote, "Completed my 2nd IM norm and my last WGM norm. Hoping to play some more good chess in the upcoming tournaments."

Who Is Divya Deshmukh?

In 2020, the chess prodigy had won in India's U-16 girls' category. The victory placed Deshmukh at first position in the under 16 girls' chess in India and on the fifth spot in the world ranking. She got 2,322 international rating points. She is also the first ranking player in the under 18 age group and holds the fifth rank in under 20 categories of chess in India.

When she was playing Under-14 chess, she was ranked first in April 2019 and held the spot for the next seven months. She has scored a total Elo of 2322, becoming India’s eleventh chess player in the women’s category.