Divya Deshmukh beats Humpy to win Women's World Cup, becomes Grandmaster
Batumi (Georgia) (PTI): Teenaged Indian chess player Divya Deshmukh earned the biggest success of her career by clinching the FIDE Women's World Cup with a tie-break win over compatriot and more experienced Koneru Humpy here on Monday.
The victory not just earned the 19-year-old the prestigious title, but also made her a Grandmaster, something which looked improbable when she started the tournament.
The victory for the Nagpur player came after the two classical games played on Saturday and Sunday ended in draws.
Having drawn the two classical games, it was the first set of tiebreakers that proved decisive as Humpy lost her nerves. Except the World Cup and the Women's World Championship, Humpy has won everything under the sun but, as fate or nerves would have it, the World Cup title eluded her.
Divya showed steely resolve on Monday, and the bonus for the determination was the Grandmaster title, reserved for the champion of this event.
For the record, Divya became the 88th Grandmaster of the country and if she continues to remain resolute in her endeavour she has the ability to achieve great success.
Divya is now the fourth Indian woman player to achieve the GM feat after Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R Vaishali.
Humpy, 38, became a Grandmaster in 2002 and Divya was only born in 2005. Divya was a bundle of energy as she kept piling pressure on Humpy in the opening tiebreaker, tiring out her illustrious opponent and then going for the kill in the second tiebreaker.
Out of a Petroff defense, Divya got an isolated Queen pawn middle game and sacrificed a pawn to give Humpy better prospects in the opening tiebeaker. However, Humpy returned the favour with her clock ticking away, and soon enough she was staring at a position where she had a rook, bishop and a pawn against Divya's Queen.
The position, however, remained close to being equal and Humpy drew quite easily in the end.
In the return game, Humpy employed the Catalan opening and again Divya was well prepared as she equalised without much ado. Humpy had sacrificed a pawn early but the ensuing queen-and-rook endgame was just a draw.
It was on the 40th move that Humpy lost her cool and tried to invade the opposition through a pawn sacrifice. Divya could have done better but the rook-and-pawns endgame she reached was still a draw.
This was Divya's day as Humpy again ran a bit short of time and blundered in the endgame again, leading to a theoretically won position for Divya.
The fortunes in this game fluctuated between a draw and a win for Divya for a long time, till the Nagpur girl prevailed.
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1,850 missing mobile phones recovered as Delhi Police focusses on victim-centric policing
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Police has recovered 1,850 stolen and lost mobile phones worth around Rs 4 crore in past 40 days under "Mission Reconnect", an initiative aimed at returning phones to their rightful owners in outernorth Delhi, an official said on Saturday.
The recovered phones were traced from different parts of the country, including remote areas, through technical surveillance and sustained field operations, police said, adding that the devices were handed over to their owners during a programme at the Sports Ground, New Police Lines, Kingsway Camp.
The initiative focused on a victim-centric approach and aimed at strengthening public trust through proactive policing and coordinated efforts across states, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outernorth) Hareshwar Swami said.
As part of the programme, teams performed 'nukkad nataks' and screened awareness videos on cybercrime, drug abuse prevention, and senior citizen safety, sensitising the public about digital frauds and safety measures, officials said.
The initiative combines technology, investigation and community participation to ensure recovery of lost property and reconnect citizens with their valuables, they added.
