Respect Anup sir a lot and I’m not happy defeating him, says Divya Deshmukh

Respect Anup sir a lot and I’m not happy defeating him, says Divya Deshmukh

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14-year-old Divya Deshmukh stated that she wasn’t happy after she managed to get the better of her mentor Anup Desmukh in the final round of the Goa Open International Chess meet. In other matches, International Master 62nd seed Sankalp Gupta lost to Indian Grandmaster Venkatesh MR to finish 75th.

It was an awkward challenge for Divya as she was up against the man who had taught her how to play chess in the first place. In a first, the student and former coach were up against each other and the winner wasn’t happy upon winning whereas the loser rejoiced.

"I respect Anup sir a lot so I am not happy defeating him today," Divya said, reported TOI.

50-year-old Anup has been Vidarbha's first International Master and the coach to many aspiring chess enthusiasts. He sounded happy upon losing to the city's only Women International Master (WIM) and two-time World Cadet champion Divya. Divya also finished third in the best female category.

"Divya won very easily. One Deshmukh was going to lose. She played extremely well. She is improving fast and this victory will also boost her confidence for future events. She has a good game, still she has to improve a lot," said Anup.

"Divya started with the Queens Pawn opening. Later it got converted into Modern Pric after 15 moves. I think to have equalized but I made some suicidal moves to lose easily in 30 moves," Anup added, ex[plaining Divya’s strategy as she ended on top of the table ahead of all the participating city masters in Goa.

In the other match, the city’s latest IM, 16-year-old Gupta, got his third consecutive defeat against Venkatesh MR. The 62nd seed finished at a lowly 75th rank. In the 10th and final round, 82nd ranked Shailesh Dravid did well to defend with black pieces to hold 35th seeded Tajikistan IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev within just 20 moves and claimed the 74th rank. With six points, Dravid finished behind Divya and half point above Sankalp.

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