Nagpur teen Divya Deshmukh’s success can be attributed to being at the right place, and at the right time. The 17-year-old chess woman grandmaster, who registered a dramatic win in the rapid section of the 10-women field of the Tata Steel Chess tournament held at the National Library in Kolkata last week, was a last-minute inclusion. She came in place of R Vaishali, elder sister of rising world chess star R Praggnanandhaa, after the former pulled out of the tournament. 

Deshmukh couldn’t have asked for a better debut, as she defeated India great and second seed Koneru Humpy with black pieces. But this victory came with its own twists, as her fate was to be decided by the game between the top seed Ju Wenjun of China and defending champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine. Ushenina held Ju to a draw, which in turn helped Deshmukh finish half-a-point ahead of Ju (6.5 points), who had to settle for second place.