Divya Deshmukh managed to get the first half a point to her tally at the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament after holding off Alexander Donchenko to a draw in round 2. In the first round, Divya was handed a defeat in an exciting battle against Abhimanyu Puranik, the man who helped her become the FIDE Women’s World Cup winner as a second two months ago.
This is the third tournament this year that Divya is playing in the open section, after Tata Steel Challengers and the Prague Challengers events. Since she has qualified for the Women’s Candidates tournament already, she opted to play in the open section, where there is just one player in the 116-player field that is rated lower than her. Earlier this year, at the Tata Steel Challengers at Wijk aan Zee and Prague Challengers, she experienced many defeats. She lost eight out of 13 games at Wijk and had five defeats from nine games at Prague.
She started the Grand Swiss also with a loss, before Friday’s draw. After that result against Donchenko, Divya said that she wouldn’t mind even if she lost all the 11 games in the tournament.
Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn. Every loss hurts a lot. When you play stronger players continuously, you learn so much even if you lose.
“Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn. Every loss hurts a lot. When you play stronger players continuously, you learn so much even if you lose. You learn about yourself, you learn about what you should and should not do. For me, the result is not that important, more than what I take back from this tournament. This is definitely the strongest open tournament that I have played,” Divya told ChessBase India before adding with a smile: “I don’t want to say that I am used to getting beaten by these players.”
INTERACTIVE: Divya Deshmukh vs Alexander Donchenko
Talking about the game against Donchenko, she revealed in an interview with Take Take Take that she had offered a draw at one point, but her opponent had refused. She praised her opponent for that.
“Today I never really felt that I was in any danger at any point,” Divya said in another interview.
She added: “I’m motivated enough to play here since I have to fight with these players. Yesterday was a bit of a disappointing loss, because I thought I could have won.”
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Despite losing so many games in open sections, Divya had told The Indian Express why she relishes playing in the mixed gender events.
“I truly enjoy playing in open tournaments,” Divya had told The Indian Express after becoming the women’s world cup winner. “As much as they are difficult, I think it’s a must-have experience and it makes you much, much stronger when you play against people who are way stronger than you to begin with. You learn so much about yourself at such events: like where you’re lacking, where your weaknesses are and how you can improve on those.”
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