Nagpur: Maharashtra’s youngest Women Grand Master (WGM) Divya Deshmukh of Nagpur won the MPL 47th National Women Chess Championships 2022 at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and became Vidarbha’s first Senior National Women Chess Champion.
Divya beat Soumya Swaminathan in the final round of the tournament to win the 47th National Women Chess title. Notably, Divya had a dream run at the tournament having toppled top seeded Vaishali R in the penultimate round; she posted her seventh successive victory to lead the strong field of 103-woman players by one full point.
Divya won her maiden gold medal at the senior level and became Vidarbha’s first National Champion.
Back in 2019, Divya had become the youngest to pocket a bronze medal in the senior nationals.