Like David armed with a slingshot and a stone, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh just brought down another Goliath at the FIDE Women’s World Cup in Batumi after defeating former women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi on Wednesday. The game was one of the contenders for the most dramatic games of the year, a five-hour battle that lasted 101 moves and saw Tan having an edge at one stage, then making an error to allow Divya to take control of the game, then Divya repaid the favour by throwing away a winning position. And just when a draw appeared to be the likeliest outcome, an error from Tan allowed Divya victory.
The end of the game had emotional moments from both players: as Tan searched desperately for another escape hatch and tried to think of a Hail Mary of a move, Divya, realising that there was no way she was going to lose, covered her eyes and composed herself. Tan herself looked aghast at how she had let the game slip away. A few minutes of thinking later, Tan resigned.
“I could have played much better,” said Divya with a smile right after the win as she was interviewed by the FIDE media team. “I was winning at one point, then I messed up in the middle game. I should have had a much smoother win. She put up such a good fight after a point that I was wondering if this will end up as a draw. I think I got lucky in the end.”
🇮🇳 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh advances to the Finals of the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025!
❗️She earns a GM norm and secures her spot at the next Women’s Candidates!#FIDEWorldCup @DivyaDeshmukh05 pic.twitter.com/GlTBHTPdxN
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 23, 2025
Divya had an edge in the game after the 13th move from Tan (13… Nd3), an aggressive hop from the knight that the engine crinkled its face at. But the engine wanted Divya to respond to that provocation by trading queens, which Divya opted against. That saw the evaluation bar settling in the middle. On move 19, Divya then made an inaccuracy with her own knight (19. Nd4) which saw her squander her edge once again. By move 31, the former world champion from China was starting to gain an upper hand in the contest, especially with her pawn on the d file just two squares from promoting and threatening to pocket a white rook. It was on move 32, where a reckless push of the bishop from Tan (32… Bxf3) offered Divya some breathing space.
In one move, Tan went from having a considerable edge to the game being level again. From this stage, Divya started to capitalise. Even though she had barely over a minute on the clock, she had two additional pawns on the board when the queens were traded off by move 37.
Now Divya’s pieces moved in for the kill, spotting holes in the defensive cavalcade blockading Tan’s king. By move 59, Divya had the game in her pocket, with a two-pawn advantage and her pawn on the b file threatening to march down to the end of the board and promoting to a queen. Tan defended like her life depended on it. This phase saw the evaluation bar jump up and down with each move, at times favouring Divya’s chances and other times indicating that both players were equally in with a chance. The pawn on the b file was parked there for 17 moves as the other pieces danced around the board. On move 79 came another blunder from Divya, which saw her once again throw away a winning position to a drawish scenario. Tan’s rook harassed Divya’s king and a draw by threefold repetition was almost a certainty.
INTERACTIVE: How Divya Deshmukh defeated ex-women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi
But this was one of those games where nothing could be considered a certainty until the hands were shook. On the 90th move, came the final twist of fate: Tan blundered by pushing her king on h3 (90… Kh3) when she should have moved her rook instead. Now, Divya was winning again. This time, she did not let go, securing a resignation from her opponent 10 moves later.
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The 19-year-old from Maharashtra’s Nagpur thus earns a spot in the prestigious FIDE Women’s Candidates tournament, a grandmaster norm and a spot in the final. The other semi-final of the day, between Koneru Humpy and Lei Tingjie ended in a draw after a phase where Humpy had winning chances. Humpy and Lei will be back on the board tomorrow for rapid tiebreaks for a chance to face off against Divya.
Divya has been the revelation of the Women’s World Cup in Georgia’s Batumi, taking down promising IM from Serbia Injac Teodora, world No.6 from China Zhu Jiner, veteran Indian grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, and finally a woman who was the women’s world champion in 2018.
Divya’s run at the ongoing FIDE Women’s World Cup is reminiscent of the 2023 FIDE World Cup when an 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa had gone on a giant-killing spree, taking down Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura before losing in the final to Magnus Carlsen.
Only last year, Divya became a World Junior Champion. Since then, she’s had a breakthrough year: she became the face of the Indian women’s team that won the gold at the Chess Olympiad at Budapest last year, where she won an individual gold medal herself.
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Thanks to the win today, she not only avoids the anxiety-filled tiebreaks tomorrow but also earns an extra day while her potential opponents spend more energy trying to get to the final. Asked what she will do with the one extra day, Divya smiled: “I need some sleep. These days have been so anxious.”
