Who Is Divya Deshmukh? PM Modi Praises Nagpur Born Chess Player For Beating World No 1 Hou Yifan At World Team Blitz Championships

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded India’s chess sensation Divya Deshmukh for her first-ever victory over World No. 1 Hou Yifan in the second leg of the blitz semifinal at the World Team Blitz Championships in London.

Taking to X he wrote, "Congratulations to Divya Deshmukh on defeating the World No. 1, Hou Yifan in the 2nd leg of Blitz semifinal at the World Team Blitz Championships, London. Her success highlights her grit and determination. It also inspires many upcoming chess players. Best wishes for her future endeavours."

Who is Divya Deshmukh?

Divya was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra to doctor parents Jitendra and Namratha. She fell in love with sport at the age of five. She won the Under-7 National Championship at age of seven in 2012 after which she began making rapid strides in the sport. Divya is trained under GM R.B. Ramesh at Chess Gurukul in Chennai.

Divya won world youth titles in the U‑10 (Durban, 2014) and U‑12 (Brazil, 2017) categories. She became a Woman FIDE Master quite early in her career and earned the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title by October 2021.

Following the title she became Vidarbha's first and India’s 22nd under that rating. She then secured her International Master (IM) title in 2023 and was a World No 1 in Junior category. Divya won World Junior Girls’ U‑20 Championship in 2024, finishing with a dominant 10/11 score.

She also contributed to India’s team gold at the 45th Chess Olympiad (2024) in Budapest and earned individual honours, along with a performance rating over 2600 in the blitz segment of the World Team Rapid & Blitz Championship. She holds multiple medals, which include three golds at the Olympiad, multiple Asian and World Youth titles.

Divya Deshmukh's performance at World Team Blitz Championships

The third edition of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships took place in London between June 10 and 16. Divya’s win came during the second leg of the Blitz semifinal match while representing Hexamind Chess Club.

The team eventually secured the bronze medal in Blitz and a silver in the Rapid format. In the blitz format, Divya picked up six wins, one draw and just lost once in the eight games, clocking a performance rating of 2606. She later dominated the third-place playoff, helping her team defeat Uzbekistan 3.5–2.5 in both rounds to claim team bronze.

In the individual event, Divya registered five wins, six draws, and just one loss and secured team silver and an individual bronze on Board 6, with a performance rating of 2420.