NAGPUR: Indian national women's chess champion Divya Deshmukh is now the queen of Asia. The 18-year-old International Master (IM) remained unbeaten to win the Asian Continental Women's chess championship crown in Kazakhstan on Sunday.
Having just missed the gold medal in the Asian blitz event last week, Divya remained focused and dominated the classical format without losing a round to clinch her maiden title in the women's category of the continental tournament. Earlier, Divya has won many age category Asian and world championships.
With this table-top finish Divya qualified for the women's World Cup scheduled in Baku, Azerbaijan, though she had already secured the berth being the national women chess champion too.
In the nine-round continental tournament, Divya started as the second seed and finished the eight-day event with 7.5 points. Divya's dominance in the tournament was such that she clinched the gold medal with one clear point advantage.
In a chat with TOI Divya said, "I am very happy to win my maiden Asian women's gold medal. In fact, this is my entry to the World Cup through one more route."
After finishing second in the blitz tournament, Divya had a nervous start in the classical format and was on the verge of losing the opening round against unseeded Mohammadi Melika of Iran. From that losing position, Divya played out a marathon 70-move battle to secure a draw.
Thereafter, there was no looking back for Divya as she registered three successive victories before playing out a quick 31-move draw with top seed Mongolian IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag in the fifth round.
After winning the next three rounds, Divya took a one-point lead at the end of the penultimate game, and was just a draw away from winning her first Asian Women's crown. In the ninth and final round, Divya played a quick 22-move draw with Kazakhstan's WIM Balabayeva Xeniya to emerge as the queen of Asia.
Divya said, "I regret losing the blitz gold medal from a winning position. Since classical is an altogether different format, I geared up to play well and tried to focus more."
On her way to win the title, Divya defeated compatriots Aashna Makhija, Sakshi Chitlange and Ann Mary Gomes, WIM's from Kazakhstan Amina Kairbekova, Alua Nurmanova and fifth seed Meruert Kamalidenova.
On her most challenging and best games, Divya said, "For me the most challenging game was the first round, where I had a lost position and managed to secure a draw. I liked my game against Kamalidenova in the eighth round, where I defended well to win a point after 55 moves."
Divya was followed by Goa's Ann Mary Gomes and Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolian with 6.5 points each.
