Indian chess prodigy Divya Deshmukh delivered a commanding performance against Chinese Grandmaster Lei Tingjie, securing a 10–3 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Speed Chess Championship 2025.
The online championship, featuring a single-elimination format with 16 elite players, saw Divya dominate all three segments of the match. She led 3.5–0.5 after the 5+1 blitz games, extended her advantage to 7.5–1.5 in the 3+1 segment, and sealed the win with a 2.5–1.5 score in the final 1+1 bullet games.
Divya, who recently earned her Grandmaster title, will now face three-time World Champion Hou Yifan in a high-stakes quarterfinal clash on Thursday. The tournament offers a total prize pool of USD 75,000, with USD 7,000 reserved for the winner.
Meanwhile, fellow Indian R. Vaishali bowed out after a narrow 6–8 loss to American IM Alice Lee last week.
