Against All Odds: Divya Deshmukh

Divya Deshmukh is just 19, and she etched just her name in the history books. She won the Women’s World Cup of Chess. You might wonder, what is so special about this? It’s special because it’s a win against ALL odds. So what were these odds?

Firstly, this is just a 19 year old in a field of veterans. Secondly, she wasn’t a grandmaster yet! In Chess, you only hear of grandmasters winning world championships. She was still an international master when she won, meaning she was one rung below the highest qualification in the chess world. She also started the tournament seeded 15th out of 107. That means 14 others were placed higher than her, not good if you want to win, and finally, she was playing a game which is not exactly women friendly. The game of chess still treats women differently. Women have separate divisions, separate ranks, titles and even places in chess society. A Women’s Grandmaster isn't considered the same as the men’s grandmaster title (GM)- the highest title in the chess world. If you combine this with her relative inexperience playing games at this level, then if this isn’t stacking odds against you, I don’t know what is!

So what helped Divya beat the odds? Firstly, self belief. Even while playing GMs, she believed she could beat them. Second was her hunger to win. She wanted the title! Third was the preparation. Some of the games she played flummoxed even veterans of the chess circuit. Looking at these, beating the odds is about self belief, the hunger to win, loads of preparation, and tenacity - making sure you don’t give up. Divya shows all of us that if you have these, the world can be your oyster.