Divya Deshmukh laments missed chances in Game 1 draw vs Koneru Humpy in FIDE Women’s World Cup final
India’s Divya Deshmukh expressed her disappointment in the chances she missed in the first classical game of the FIDE Women’s World Cup final against compatriot Koneru Humpy.
Speaking on Sunday, after the second game too ended in a draw, Divya said the opening match draw ‘felt like a loss.”
On Saturday, Divya held the upper hand against Humpy on multiple occasions, but failed to capitalise on her opponents’ mistakes.
AS IT HAPPENED – Humpy vs Divya GAME 2
“I was quite disappointed with the first game obviously, because I saw everything, and I just always ended up making the wrong choice. It was quite a pity. So yeah, the first game did not go my way and even though it was a draw, it kind of felt like a loss,” said Divya.
The second game was a far more straightforward one, with both players making fewer errors compared to Saturday. Divya though felt she had complicated her position for no reason, leading to a few nervy moments.
“I was just trying to recover, and today was considerably easier. I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. I was trying to see if there was a win, but I just missed the Queen to b8 [move]. And I was confused whether I should go g6 or g5. And I think G5 was better because Queen B8 doesn’t work against it. But I had some other problems. It was just should have been an easy draw. I got into trouble for no reason,” added Divya.
The 19-year-old touched on the importance of mid-round recovery in long tournaments, like the World Cup.
“I mean, I think it’s absolutely necessary to do that, otherwise you’re not going to perform well in the next game. I just tell myself that I have the rest of my life to be sad about it. So just don’t be sad today, and then we can be sad about it afterwards,” added Divya.
Going into Game 2, the Indian chess star had gone viral on social media after FIDE shared a video of her smiling mid-move on Saturday’s opener.
When asked on Sunday regarding her reaction, Divya provided a clarification.
“Yeah, I was getting spammed on my phone after the game, because everybody was like ‘Why is she smiling?’. I got so annoyed. I deleted all the apps. I don’t really realize first of all that I was smiling. I think it must have been some inner joke that I thought of or Yeah, I was I think I was just so into calculations and at that point I was honestly a bit frustrated… because I mis-evaluated [a position],” said Divya.