For The First Time, Indian Women’s Chess Will Get A World Champion : Final Is today Between Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh
Batumi (Georgia): Saturday is set to become a historic day for Indian women’s chess, as for the first time ever, an Indian woman will become the World Champion in chess. India got its first chess world champion in Viswanathan Anand, and now, a woman from India will also earn that title. On Saturday, July 26, in the final of the FIDE Women’s World Cup, two Indian players — Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh — will battle for the crown. Whoever wins will become India’s first-ever female chess World Champion.
Divya is half Humpy’s age. Humpy hails from Andhra Pradesh, while Divya is from Nagpur. This is the first time two Indian women have reached the final of the Women’s World Cup. By reaching the final, both have also qualified for next year’s prestigious Candidates Tournament.
Notably, in men’s chess, 19-year-old D. Gukesh became World Champion in December 2024 by defeating China’s Ding Liren in the final.
Both Indians defeated Chinese opponents in the semis
Koneru Humpy (38), a veteran chess player, defeated China’s Tingjie Lei in the semifinal. Divya Deshmukh (19) beat former World Champion Tan Zhongyi of China to enter the final.
Prize Money
The two Chinese players aimed to create an all-China final, but were stopped by the Indian duo. As a result, this became an all-India final — marking a historic milestone for Indian women’s chess.The winner will receive ₹42 lakhs (INR), and the runner-up will receive ₹29 lakhs.
Humpy impressed by Divya’s performance
Grandmaster (GM) Koneru Humpy is a former Women’s World Rapid Chess Champion (2019). She also recently shared first place in the Women’s Grand Prix.
Viswanathan Anand became World Champion at the age of 31 in 2000. Humpy, now 38, has worked tirelessly in recent years and established herself as one of the top minds in chess. In 2020, she won the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad and in 1999, she became the youngest Woman International Master in Asia.
In an interview with FIDE, Humpy said:
“Divya is in great form. She has played really well in this World Cup.”
Humpy is married and a mother
Koneru Humpy married Desari Anvesh, a project manager at a well-known company, in 2016. They have one daughter.
Some sleep and some food
International Master (IM) Divya has already defeated three of the top-10 seeds in this World Cup and will now challenge fellow Indian Humpy in the final.
Divya, from a Marathi family, also holds the Grandmaster (GM) title. She has won the Chess Olympiad three times, as well as the Asian Championship and the World Junior Championship.
After qualifying for the final on Thursday, she told FIDE’s website:
What is the format of the final?
- Both players will get 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game.
- From the first move, a 30-second increment per move is applied.
- If the match is tied after two classical games, the tiebreaks will be played as follows:
(a) Two rapid games with 10 minutes + 10 seconds increment.
(b) If still tied, two more games with 5 minutes + 3 seconds.
(c) If needed, two blitz games with 3 minutes + 2 seconds.
(d) If still tied, repeated 3+2 blitz games until a winner is determined.