Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji
Panaji, Nov 3: India’s young chess sensation Divya Deshmukh’s FIDE World Cup campaign in Goa came to an end on Sunday after her second successive loss to Greek Grandmaster Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis. Playing with black pieces, the 19-year-old from Nagpur went down in 73 moves, marking her exit from the tournament.
Divya, the only woman among 206 players in the field, entered the World Cup with strong momentum following her victories at the FIDE Women’s World Cup and the FIDE Grand Swiss, where she defeated two grandmasters. Despite being rated 80 points below her Greek opponent, Divya was expected to put up a tough fight. However, her bid to force a tiebreak slipped away as time pressure mounted during the endgame.
In another setback for the home crowd, Goa’s own Leon Luke Mendonca was also knocked out after losing to China’s International Master Shixu B Wang in the second game of his match.
Meanwhile, International Master Aronyak Ghosh kept India’s hopes alive by defeating Polish Grandmaster Mateusz Bartel to force a tiebreak on Monday. Several other Indian players, including SL Narayanan, Lalit Babu MR, Diptayan Ghosh, and Raja Rithvik R, will also battle in tiebreaks for a spot in the next round.
Veteran GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Raunak Sadhwani, junior world champion Pranav V, Karthik Venkataraman, and Pranesh have already advanced to the second round. The upcoming round will see top Indian stars, including World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa R, Arjun Erigaisi, and Vidit Santosh Gujarathi, joining the action.
Key Indian Results (Game 2 – Round 1):
• GM Divya Deshmukh lost to GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE) 0:2
• GM Pranav V bt Ala Eddine Boulrens (ALG) 2:0
• GM Raunak Sadhwani bt FM Daniel Barrish (RSA) 1.5:0.5
• GM Pranesh bt IM Satbek Akhmedinov (KAZ) 1.5:0.5
• GM Karthik Venkataraman bt GM Roberto Garcia Pantoja (CUB) 1.5:0.5
• GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly bt GM Ahmad Ahmadzada (AZE) 2:0
• IM Aronyak Ghosh drew with GM Mateusz Bartel (POL) 1:1
• GM Lalit Babu MR drew with GM Max Warmerdam (NED) 1:1
• GM Narayanan SL drew with IM Steven Rojas (PER) 1:1
• GM Leon Luke Mendonca lost to IM Shixu B Wang (CHN) 0.5:1.5