Divya wins Tata Steel Rapid with splendid performance

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/3/2023 – Divya Deshmukh, a late replacement and the lowest-rated player in the field, won the rapid section of the Tata Steel India tournament. The 17-year-old from Maharashtra outscored some of the strongest women players in the world to finish in sole first place with 7 out of 9 points. Ju Wenjun, who entered the last round tied for first with Divya, grabbed second place. | Photo: Vivek Sohani

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Two successes in a row

It has been a magnificent three weeks for 17-year-old Divya Deshmukh. On August 16-24, she participated in the Abu Dhabi Masters, where she scored 4/9 points against strong opposition, obtaining a 2473 TPR and collecting wins over GMs Pranav Anand and Karthikeyan Murali.

Shortly after, she received an unexpected invitation to participate in the Tata Steel India tournament, as her compatriot Vaishali Rameshbabu could not make it to Kolkata. Despite entering the event as a late replacement, Divya was the clear winner of the rapid section, as she outscored the likes of world champion Ju Wenjun and India’s number one Humpy Koneru.

Divya is the eighth highest-rated girl (under-20) in the world. Earlier this year, she had already impressed the chess world with her strong showing at the Asian Championships in Almaty, where she was the clear winner in the women’s section with a 7½/9 performance.

In Kolkata, the youngster scored 2½/3 points on day 1. An incredible 3/3 performance followed on Friday, which allowed her to enter the final three rounds with a 1½-point lead over Ju. On the last day of action, Divya drew Anna Ushenina and lost to Polina Shuvalova, while direct contender Ju kicked off the day with back-to-back wins.

With one game to go, the lowest-rated player in the field was tied for first with the event’s rating favourite. In the deciding round, a level-headed Divya managed to beat Humpy, while Ju could not make the most of her middlegame advantage against Ushenina. The world champion eventually signed a draw, which meant Divya had won the tournament outright!

Ju Wenjun

Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun | Photo: Vivek Sohani

Polina Shuvalova

Polina Shuvalova finished in sole third place | Photo: Vivek Sohani

Divya 1 - 0 Vantika

Analysis by Klaus Besenthal

Divya Deshmukh23721–0Vantika Agrawal2430
Tata Steel India Women Rapid 2023
Kolkata01.09.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 g6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.c4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc3 Qd8 7.g3 Bd6 8.h4 h5 9.Bg2 c6 10.e3 f5 11.Nf3 0-0 12.0-0 Nd7 13.d5 c5 14.a4 Nf6 15.Nd2 b6 16.Nc4
In this position, the white knights seem to be quite a problem for the black bishops. 16...Bb7?! Therefore 16...a6! is the best move, since it prevents Nb5. And if one wanted to advance the black majority on the queenside with a7-a6 and b6-b5, then the b7-bishop stands in the way of the b8-rook supporting the push. 17.Qd3 17.Nb5! Ne8 18.Qb3± would have been quite pleasant White. 17...a6?! Now this doesn't fit so well. For example, Rab8 would not be as strong. 17...Rc8 18.e4 fxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.Bxe4
20...b5?! This loses a pawn. Perhaps first there should come 20...Kg7 21.axb5 axb5 22.Rxa8 Bxa8 23.Nxd6 Qxd6 24.Qxb5 Rb8 25.Qa5!
The black rook cannot capture on b2 now. 25...Qe5 26.Bg2 c4 27.Qc5 Rd8 28.Qxc4 Qxb2 29.Qc7 Qf6 30.Rb1
White is clearly winning. 30...Kg7 31.Rb8 Rxb8 32.Qxb8 Qa1+ 33.Kh2 Kf6?? A grave mistake. 33...Bxd5 34.Bxd5 Qd4 35.Bg2 Qxf2 34.Qh8+
1–0

Divya Deshmukh

Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Vivek Sohani

Final standings

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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