Chess: Divya Deshmukh ticks another box with junior world title in pursuit of bigger prizes

The photos of Divya Deshmukh lifting a trophy almost half her size flooded social media on June 13. The massive piece of silverware was what the 18-year-old from Nagpur won after becoming the Under-20 FIDE Junior World Chess Champion, at the event held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

“It was not that heavy [the trophy],” said Deshmukh, laughing as she described, in a conversation with Scroll. “It was definitely tough to get it back [home] from Gujarat, but we managed.”

Having entered the tournament as the top seed, Deshmukh was expected to dominate. She fulfilled those expectations, finishing with 10 points in 11 rounds.

“It is something I have been wanting to accomplish for a while,” said Deshmukh. “There were a lot of expectations, but I was just trying to play good chess.”