July 31, 2025: Divya Deshmukh, the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup champion, thanked her first coach, Rahul Joshi, her family, and sister, as well as everyone else who had gathered to congratulate her at the Nagpur Airport. On Wednesday, when she got back to her family and supporters, they all gathered at the Nagpur Airport to welcome her. After defeating Koneru on Monday evening in the final via tiebreaks, Divya, a rising chess star of 19 years old, became the first Indian woman to win the Chess World Cup. She became just the fourth Indian woman grandmaster and overall the 88th in the nation to clinch that title.
"I am happy. I feel very good to see that so many people have gathered here to welcome me. My heart is overjoyed. I want to give credit to my sister, my whole family, and my first coach, Rahul Joshi," Divya said to the media.
A series of errors in the second rapid game contributed to Koneru's defeat during the heated competition. In the rook endgame, which went in Divya's favor, she was down a pawn. With a score of 2.5-1.5, the veteran conceded after letting the situation sink in and resigned on the 75th move. With her careless actions, Divya was unable to take advantage of the two opportunities Koneru had provided for her. However, Koneru did more damage to herself on the third try by capturing the f-pawn on move 69, which turned the tide in Divya's favor in the contest's final moments. This time around, Divya made no mistake, played the right moves and forced Koneru to resign after six moves. As she began to realize the magnitude of her victory, tears started to well up in her eyes. After embracing her mother in a sincere moment, she attempted to maintain her composure, but she soon found herself once more overcome with emotions.