Maharashtra Government will loosen its purse strings when it will felicitate State’s ‘Queen of Chess’ Divya Deshmukh at a grand function on Saturday morning. The felicitation function will be held at Kavivarya Suresh Bhat Hall, Reshimbagh at 11.30 am. Nagpur’s Divya Deshmukh recently created history by becoming first woman to win Women’s Chess World Cup for India. In the process she also won the Grandmaster title and also qualified for the prestigious Candidates Tournament.

 

In the final held at Batumi in Georgia, Divya defeated much acclaimed and double her age Koneru Humpy in the rapid tie-breaker round after they had split point in the two-game standard format. In the entire tournament, Divya lost only one game and was dominant throughout the competition to becoming World Cup winner at the age of 19. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis will felicitate Grandmaster Divya with a cheque of Rs 3 crore, it is reported. The announcement of Divya Deshmukh Chess Academy in Nagpur will also be made during the function. Maharashtra Chess Association President Dr Parinay Fuke, on Thursday, had informed the media that they have planned a chess academy in Nagpur in Divya’s name.

 

“This academy will try to produce chess players who will win more medals for Maharashtra and country,” he had said. The function will be graced by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as the special guest. Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar will be the chief guests. Revenue Minister and Guardian Minister of Nagpur Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ramtek MP Shyamkumar Barve, MLAs and MLCs including Ashish Jaiswal, Abhijit Wanjari, Sudhakar Adbale, Krupal Tumane, Sandip Joshi, Dr Nitin Raut, Krishna Khopde, Pravin Datke, Mohan Mate, Vikas Thakre, Sameer Meghe, Charansingh Thakur, Dr Ashish Deshmukh, Sanjay Meshram, Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte, President of Chess Association Nagpur Girish Vyas, Divisional Commissioner Vijay Laxmi Bidari, Commissioner of Police Dr Ravinder Kumar Singal, District Collector Dr Vipin Itankar, Administrator and NMC Commissioner Dr Abhijit Chaudhary and large number of citizen will also remain present.