Gandhinagar: In a momentous achievement on Thursday, Divya Deshmukh won the title at the 2024 World Junior Chess Championship held in Gandhinagar. Competing in the under-20 category, she emerged victorious in a fiercely contested final against Bulgaria’s Beloslava Krasteva.
Both players are ranked among the top 20 junior girls globally according to FIDE ratings, in a field that included 101 contenders representing 27 countries.
In the final five rounds of the open and girls’ categories, Divya held the only advantage. On 5.5 points, she was the clear favourite at the start. She won her first World Junior girl’s chess championship by going undefeated in the entire competition.
The Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel congratulated the winners World Junior Chess Championship 2024.
In the girls’ section, Mariam Mkrtchyan took the runner-up spot after finishing half a point behind Divya. Azerbaijan’s Ayan Allahverdiyeva was third.
In the penultimate round, the International Master (IM) triumphed over Sachi Jain, another Indian, bringing her total to nine points. The 18-year-old was ahead of Armenia’s Mariam Mkrtchyan by half a point.
