In a thrilling tiebreak, 19-year-old Divya wins a historic title. She wins the Grandmaster title and becomes the third person in history to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
The 19-year-old Indian chess prodigy Divya Deshmukh defeated Grandmaster Humpy Koneru in a close tiebreak to win the title and create chess history in an exciting match at the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup. With this victory, Divya becomes only the third-ever Women’s World Cup winner, joining the ranks of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2021) and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2023).
The championship match was decided by two 15+10 rapid tiebreak games because the classical games ended in a tie. In the first game, Divya played as white and chose the Petroff Defence. This was a surprising choice by Humpy, who picked a less-common sideline that she had used before to beat Divya. Although Divya built a strong position and nearly broke through, she missed a winning move. This allowed Humpy to steer the game into a fortress-like draw.
The second game was a complete turnaround. Humpy, playing white, opened with the Catalan. Divya responded with a bold and aggressive variation. Meanwhile, Humpy began to struggle due to serious time pressure. A blunder by Humpy in the late middlegame, an ill-timed central pawn break, allowed Divya to take control. After a tense rook endgame, Divya succeeded with precise technique, converting her advantage to win and claiming the World Cup with a 1.5–0.5 tiebreak score.
“This definitely means a lot,” said an emotional Divya after the win. “But there is a lot more to achieve, so I’m hoping this is just the start.”
Alongside the title, Divya also takes home the $50,000 first prize and secures an automatic qualification to the 2026 Candidates Tournament. More notably, by winning this prestigious FIDE event, she is awarded the Grandmaster (GM) title, directly an extraordinary feat given she had not achieved a single GM norm before this.
“I still need time to process it,” she said. “I think it was fate. Before this, I didn’t even have one norm, and now I’m a Grandmaster.”
The 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup had 107 players from 46 federations, which included 17 of the top 20 women in the world. With this win, Divya Deshmukh establishes herself as one of the most promising rising stars in global chess.
