NEW DELHI — In the coastal city of Batumi, Georgia, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh wiped away tears of joy and disbelief as she etched her name in history — becoming India’s first-ever Women’s World Cup chess champion. But perhaps the most unusual companion to witness her triumph wasn’t a teammate, coach, or fan — it was a banana, untouched and patiently sitting beside her through every round.
The final tiebreak game on Monday was anything but easy. Facing 38-year-old Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, a veteran of Indian chess and one of the sport’s greats, Divya entered the deciding rapid game with the black pieces — typically a slight disadvantage in chess, where white moves first. All three previous classical and rapid games had ended in draws.
The final game was a tense, time-squeezed battle. The equilibrium broke when Humpy faltered under time pressure with the move 40.e4, followed by 41.d5, which led to Divya responding with 42…cxd5. The veteran held on — for a moment. But the game remained volatile, laced with moments of brilliance and blunders from both players as instinct took over in the face of the ticking clock.
On move 69, when Humpy played h7, the tide turned decisively. The evaluation bar — a chess metric that had wavered throughout — dropped sharply, and this time, it didn’t recover. A teenager who entered the tournament as the 15th seed, with no Grandmaster norms, had just defeated a legend to take home the title.
Divya now joins the ranks of elite Indian women in chess — Humpy, D. Harika, and R. Vaishali — but unlike them, she achieved this title without needing three Grandmaster norms, something nearly unheard of at this level.
As the hall stood to applaud her stunning rise, a humble banana remained on the table — as it had through the entire tournament. The quirky companion puzzled some and amused others, becoming a quiet symbol of her journey. After Sunday’s draw in the second classical final game, she was asked about it.
“I mean, what else am I going to do with the banana? I’m going to eat it,” she said with a laugh. “Obviously.”
Except — she never did.
“My opponents are never letting me eat it,” she joked later. “If I start eating a banana, then you should know I’m pretty relaxed in my body.”
And so, the banana remained — a small, absurd, and oddly endearing constant in a high-pressure tournament. While Divya denied it was lucky — “No!” she said when asked — it now joins the ranks of Rafael Nadal’s water bottles and MS Dhoni’s glove rituals in the annals of sporting quirks.
In the end, Divya Deshmukh, the teenage prodigy with a calm exterior and nerves of steel, emerged as the pride of a 1.4 billion-strong nation. She defeated a champion twice her age, won the title against all odds — and yes, even outlasted the banana.
She may not have taken a bite of it — but she now has a gold medal to savor instead.
Divya conquered Batumi. So did the banana.
