Divya Deshmukh, the 19-year-old International Master from Nagpur, Maharashtra, etched her name into chess history by defeating Grandmaster Humpy Koneru 1.5–0.5 in the tiebreaks to win the Women’s World Cup.
She now follows in the footsteps of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2021) and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2023) as the third-ever winner of this prestigious title.
In the two 15+10 rapid tiebreak games, Divya showed both resilience and composure. After missing a golden opportunity in the first game, which ended in a draw, she brought elite-level precision to the second. There, she equalised comfortably as Black, then seized control as Humpy slipped under time pressure—clinching the crown in emphatic fashion.
With this remarkable win, Divya Deshmukh is now not only the 2025 Women’s World Cup Champion, but also one of the most exciting young stars in the world of chess.
After the final game, an emotional Divya embraced her mother before giving a short interview: “It’s hard for me to speak now. Of course, this definitely means a lot, but there is a lot more to achieve, so I am hoping that this is just the start,” she said.
With this triumph, Divya not only secures the USD 50,000 first prize, but also automatically earns the Grandmaster (GM) title—the highest title in chess. In doing so, she becomes one of the very few players in history to achieve it by winning a major FIDE event rather than collecting the usual three GM norms and 2500 rating.
Reflecting on this, Divya shared: “I still need time to process it. I think it was fate, me getting the Grandmaster title this way, because before this I didn’t even have one norm, and now I’m a Grandmaster.”
Divya also qualifies for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, alongside the second and third-place finishers— GM Humpy Koneru and former Women’s World Champion Tan Zhongyi.