From no norms to Grandmaster: Divya Deshmukh becomes India’s 88th GM and fourth among Indian women

Nagpur’s International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh took the shortest but strongest route to a Grandmaster (GM) title. With an emphatic World Cup triumph in Batumi, the 19-year-old became India’s 88th Grandmaster on Monday. The Grandmaster title is one of the toughest achievements in chess. To secure the top title awarded by the world chess federation (FIDE), a player needs to earn three GM norms from FIDE-approved tournaments and cross the rating of 2500 Elo. Mostly, players achieve the norms to get the title. Divya cleared the rating criteria when she registered a peak rating of 2501 in October 2024. While Divya was trying hard to get the three norms, she came very close but missed it in many tournaments by a whisker. Her first norm came when she qualified for the World Cup final in Batumi. As per the FIDE rules, winners of certain elite competitions can avoid the usual norm-and-rating route and can become GMs directly. The Women’s World Cup was one such event, and Divya earned the GM title by becoming the youngest World Cup winner. On achieving her childhood dream, Divya said, “I think it is fate, getting the Grandmaster title this way, because I didn’t even have one norm before coming to the World Cup. And all I was thinking of was ‘Oh, when can I get my norm,’ and now I have a crown and Grandmaster title too.” Congratulating Divya on X, World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura said, “Huge congratulations Divya for both winning the Women’s World Cup but also going from no-norms to the GM title in one big jump! Indian chess is knocking it out of the park these days.” Three years after she started playing chess, Divya became the youngest Woman FIDE Master (WFM) in 2013. Five years later, she achieved the Woman International Master (WIM) title and in 2021 became the WGM. In 2023, Divya earned her highest title, International Master (IM). Divya’s inspiring performance took her live ranking to 15th in the world with 2478 Elo points.