NAGPUR: City's International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh kick started her chess world cup campaign with an emphatic win at Baku, Azerbaijan. In the opening round of the women's section, the 2400 Elo Divya outplayed WIM Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa Azhar from Malaysia 1.5-0.5.
A total of 228 players in the Open and Women's section are fighting for the top three places in each group leading to the Candidates tournament, the final qualifying stage to select the next challenger for the title of World Champion. In case of a tie after two classical rounds, the players will be made to play a tie-break round.
In her first world cup at the senior level, Divya was paired with 2004-rated Women International Master (WIM) Puteri in the round of 64. Making most of her opening advantage with the white pieces in the first game of the opening round, Divya started with the usual Kings Pawn opening while Puteri opted for the Sicilian defence. After a neck-and-neck battle, Puteri made a blunder in the 33rd move and Divya went a pawn up.
Thereafter, it was just a matter of playing some accurate moves and Divya utilized the advantage further to force Puteri to resign on the 41st move.
After winning the first game, Divya was just a draw away from qualifying for the second round. The 17-year-old defended well with her black pieces and drew the marathon game in 71 moves. Replying to Puteri's King Pawn opening, Divya chose the Caro-Kann defence and remained accurate with her moves to split the points and move ahead.
In a chat with TOI, Divya said, "I am happy with the winning start to my campaign but now thinking and preparing for the second round."
In the second round, Divya will be up against 2402 Elo but experienced 43-year-old Vietnamese-born Hungarian Grandmaster (GM) Hoang Thanh Trang, who scored a clear 2-0 win over WIM Abdi Zineb Dina.
