If you thought trying to take a flight with oversized sporting paraphernalia is something that chess players never have to deal with, think again. After Nagpur-based Divya Deshmukh won the girls title at the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, her takeaway included a giant yet ornate trophy that measured over four feet in height (but thankfully weighed just around three or four kgs).
You ask her jokingly if getting the trophy back home from Gandhinagar to Nagpur was the hardest part of the competition, since she started as the pre-tournament favourite and ended up winning the title without a defeat in 11 rounds, and she chuckles: “The trophy definitely was not the hardest part of playing at the event. But it was up there. It was a bit tough (bringing the trophy home), but overall it was easy. The airline staff was very helpful,” she grins.
The 18-year-old Divya claimed victory in Gandhinagar after grabbing hold of the top spot in the standings after round 6 and never ceded space to her opponents after that point. WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (Armenia) pushed Divya till the last round, but ended up finishing second by a half-point margin, while Ayan Allahverdiyeva (8.5 points) was third. Thanks to the victory, 18-year-old Divya also rose to the No.20 spot in the live ratings (which are updated in real-time) among women.
Tough game
“Ayan was the most challenging opponent in the event that I faced. I messed up the opening a little bit. I was in deep trouble (at one point) and I had to emerge from it. But I got lucky in the end as she blundered in an equal position. So that was definitely one of the toughest games in the tournament,” Divya tells The Indian Express.
“I also felt the pressure of expectations going into the event. It was quite apparent there. Everybody expected me to crush the field because I had a huge gap over the rest of the other players rating wise. I’m glad that I managed to hold on. Going into the tournament I didn’t really have too many expectations. (I was thinking) If the win happens, then good,” admits Divya.
She explains the rationale behind having no expectations of herself: “I honestly don’t believe in having result-based expectations. I tend to lean more towards my personal goals which are focussed on the kind of game play that I have and the strength and the quality of my games. That’s the only thing I was looking to achieve in the tournament: to play good quality chess. That’s what I tried to do.”
While Divya says that becoming a grandmaster (currently India has just three women who have a GM title) is one of her short-term goals, she also maintains that it’s “too early” to say whether the sport will be her full-time career.
“I still want to keep my options open. Right now I just want to explore how much further I can go in chess. I’m enjoying the process at the moment,” she admits.
With the title in the bag, Divya is now awaiting her Standard XII results (she did open schooling). In the meanwhile, she has a task at hand, trying to find a spot to put the ornate trophy. She chuckles that her trophy cabinet had already run out of space. But “this one wouldn’t have fit, anyway.”