In the FIDE Women’s World Cup held in Batumi, Georgia in July 2025, the world saw Indian chess players Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy making history. The final of this tournament was played between these two players. Earlier in the history of FIDE Women’s World Cup, no Indian player had been able to reach the final. Divya, who was 19 years old at that time, achieved the distinction of becoming the first Indian woman to win this title by defeating Koneru Humpy.
While Divya achieved big achievements one after the other, this year was not special for world champion D Gukesh. Gukesh, who created history by winning the World Championship title last year, had to face consecutive defeats this year.
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The year was in the name of Divya
Divya performed brilliantly and earned one title and three career achievements. She became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup and won the prestigious Grandmaster title. Besides, Divya also qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The winner of this tournament will get a chance to challenge the current women’s world champion Xu Wenjun of China. Divya’s victory once again put the spotlight on women’s chess in the country, which till now was dependent on two-time world rapid champions Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika. Both the players have been the flag bearers of women’s chess in India for almost two decades.
Divya made headlines with her unexpected victory. On the other hand, Gukesh, who became the world champion last year, won the title by defeating compatriot R Praggnananda in the blitz tie-breaker at Tata Steel Masters. He also bowed out of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, failed at the FIDE Grand Swiss and lost in the third round of the FIDE World Cup in Goa. He defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen at the Norway Chess in May and June and won individual and team titles at the European Club Cup in October. Apart from this, there was no notable achievement in his name this year.
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91 grandmasters in the country
India were expected to get at least one quota place in the Candidates Tournament from the recent World Cup in Goa but strong title contenders Praggnananda, Arjun Erigesi, Nihal Sarin, P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujarati could not take advantage of playing in their country. Praggnananda made it to the Candidates 2026 by winning the FIDE Circuit 2025 and became the first Indian male player to reach it by topping the rankings. Since Vishwanathan Anand became the first Indian Grandmaster in 1988, there have been 91 Grandmasters in the country and many more are on the verge of becoming so. This year, 6 players including LR Srihari, Divya Deshmukh, S Rohit Krishna and Rahul VS were included in this category.
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