Divya happy with World Youth Championship Silver
| Date :14-Oct-2019 |
By Paritosh Pramanik :
SHE missed the title by just half a point, but city’s Woman International Master (WIM) Divya Deshmukh feels even the second place finish is worth a gold. Nagpur’s youngest Shiv Chhatrapati Award winner and chess prodigy Divya finished second best in the World Youth Chess Championship which concluded on Saturday at Mumbai. Divya, who was top seed in the Under-14 girls category, finished the 11 rounds competition with eight points behind Woman Fide Master Meruert Kamalidenova of Kazakhastan who collected 8.5 for the coveted title.
The second place finish gave Divya world of confidence and she said she is “very happy” with her performance. “Obviously, winning the title is what everybody plays for. But I am not disappointed with the second place. I finished on the podium and it is worth a gold. I am happy with the silver medal,” she told ‘The Hitavada’ on Sunday evening. The second place is more creditable for Divya as she bounced back in the tournament with élan after suffering some shocking defeats initially. She slipped to 21st position after Round Four but the Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, student played brilliantly to move up the ladder with exciting wins in remaining games.
“Initially there was pressure but then I decided not to think much about wins. I just concentrated on playing good chess,” Divya, daughter of gynaecologists Dr Namrata and Dr Jitendra Deshmukh, revealed. For Divya every tournament is important and she wants to play as many games as possible. “Every tournament, every match is important for me because I love this game and want to play good chess.
I hardly think about winning or losing. I just want to play good chess because I am very passionate about it,” added the 14-year-old. On her way to second spot, Divya recorded seven wins and two draws. She defeated Marium Fatima, Bhagyashree Patil, Agrawal Aanya, Kurmangaliyeva Liya, Sulyok Eszter, Poliakova Varvara and Nasyrova Ekaterina. Her two draws came against Wikar Martyna and Rakshitta Ravi. Divya will now be participating in World Junior (Under-20) Chess Championship which is going to be held at Delhi from October 15. The WIM is seeded ninth in the girls section.