The 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh’s astounding Women’s World Cup victory over her senior compatriot Koneru Humpy is a reflection of the standing of Indian chess in the international arena currently.

The unprecedented events in Batumi, in Georgia, where the two Indian women featured in the summit clash of the World Championship and the much younger Divya triumphed after a nerve-wracking tie-breaker, showed the incredible depth that India has developed in the recent past.

Divya’s win was dubbed by the legendary Viswanathan Anand as a ‘great celebration of Indian chess’. Nothing could have been more apt than those words of the iconic Anand, a five-time world chess champion himself........

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