GM Divya Deshmukh. File photo: PTI
Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh was knocked out in the first round of the FIDE World Cup in Goa on Sunday.
GM Divya lost 2-0 to Greece’s Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, exiting the competition. Having lost the first game to Stamatis on Saturday, Divya needed to win today’s second game of the mini-match, but lost in a rook end game.
The Greek GM will face India’s Malayali GM Nihal Sarin in the second round. Nihal, who recently crossed the 2700-Elo mark in ratings, received a bye in the first round.
GM S L Narayanan, the second Malayali in the event, was tied 1-1 with Peruvian IM Steven Rojas after drawing the second game of their match-up on Sunday. They will play a series of tiebreakers on Monday, with Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov awaiting the winner.
India superstars D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi received byes in their opening rounds. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen is not participating in the World Cup.
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