• Indian chess player Divya Deshmukh became the youngest to win the Women’s World Cup in Batumi, Georgia on July 28.

• The victory not just earned the 19-year-old from Nagpur the prestigious title, but also made her a Grandmaster.

•She defeated Grandmaster Humpy Koneru 1.5–0.5 in the tie-breaker.

• Deshmukh’s victory came after the two classical games played on July 26 and July 27 ended in draws.

• FIDE launched the Women’s Chess World Cup in 2021. This was the third edition of the Women’s Chess World Cup.

• The 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup took place from July 6 to 28 in Batumi, Georgia. A total of 107 players from 46 different federations participated in the event.

• Becoming a Grandmaster is one of the toughest things in chess as a player needs to earn three Grandmaster norms in FIDE-approved tournaments events and cross the 2500 rating.

• FIDE has a rule that the winners of certain elite competitions can avoid the usual norm-and-rating route and become Grandmasters directly. The Women’s World Cup is one of those FIDE events where the winner straightaway becomes a Grandmaster if not already.

• Deshmukh is now the fourth Indian woman player to achieve the Grandmaster feat after Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R. Vaishali.

• Humpy, 38, became a Grandmaster in 2002 and Divya was born in 2005.

• Deshmukh became the 88th Grandmaster of the country.

FIDE

• The International Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs) is the governing body of the sport of chess, and it regulates all international chess competitions. It was founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1999, FIDE was recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a global sporting organisation.

• The UN General Assembly has proclaimed July 20 as World Chess Day to mark the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924.

• FIDE awards several performance-based titles to chess players.

• They are Grandmaster (GM), International Master (IM), FIDE Master (FM), Candidate Master (CM), Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), Woman Candidate Master (WCM).

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)