Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh confirmed on Friday that she will be playing in the Open section at the upcoming FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament which will begin on September 3.
“So, the news I posted yesterday about was that I will be participating in the open Grand Swiss this year,” the 19-year-old posted on her Instagram story.
Divya recently played the Women’s Speed Chess Championship — her first tournament since a historic triumph at the FIDE World Cup — where she went down fighting against World No. 1 Hou Yifan in the quarterfinals.
Other top Indian players involved in the Open section include World Champion D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, and Nihal Sarin.
In the women’s section, 2025 World Cup runner-up Koneru Humpy and R. Vaishali will be taking part amongst Indians.
Aleksandra Goryachkina will also be competing in the Open category after Divya and the Russian player requested wild cards. The tournament is also a qualifier for the FIDE Women’s Candidates, but neither will have to sweat about that since they have already booked their spots.
International Master and leading chess commentator Tania Sachdev recently suggested that women chess players should try to play more Open tournaments to improve themselves, while also arguing that women-specific titles shouldn’t be done away with.
“I feel like young girls should play in as many open tournaments as possible. They should train and compete against men and not focus only on women-only tournaments.
But I also feel that there is no need to take away women’s titles. Because, for many players, that is an aspiration, encouraging young girls to take up the sport. [Doing that] will take away an entire generation of chess players,” said Sachdev, who was on commentary duty at the Chennai Grand Masters 2025.
