‘It doesn't matter who is in front of you,’ says GM Divya Deshmukh, the black swan

When not playing, GM Divya Deshmukh lets her pictures do the talking. Her Instagram stories and posts during the recently concluded FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan said a lot about her level of confidence.

"Necklace sums it all" was the caption she gave to one of her snaps, where she was lost in thought over a move, with a shiny black swan pendant showing. The black swan is a symbol of resilience and adaptability, the traits she showcased in abundance during the gruesome 11-round event.

The 19-year-old Indian GM was one of the two women in the open section of the event, with Russia's strongest women player, Aleksandra Goryachkina, the other.

The 26-year-old Goryachkina has a track record of causing upsets, having hit a peak of 2611 and a current rating of 2528. But Divya, who only barely touched 2500 in Elo points once and started the event with a rating of 2478, had not been not expected to perform the way she did. She had a performance rating of 2613 in the event. 

Divya finished with 5 points, made up of two wins and six draws, all against 2600-plus-rated GMs, including World Champion D Gukesh. She only lost three of her 11 games. "Just completed one of the most brutal tournaments of my career. Full of heartbreaks and incredible highs, but here we stand, feeling stronger than ever," Divya posted.

The freshly crowned Women's World Cup winner wasn't overjoyed with the results because she had a few near misses too, like in round 9 against Sanan Sjugirov (2627), where she made an uncharacteristic blunder in the end game and lost. "I think I have had a lot to learn. It could have gone better. I had a few unfortunate games, but overall, I'm satisfied with the way I played," Divya said in a post-event interview with TakeTakeTake.

"It was a confidence boost for me to see how I performed against extremely strong opponents. It really doesn't matter who is in front of you, just give your best and anything can happen," she said. Divya played on board 57 because all her games were broadcast live by FIDE.