India's Divi Bijesh stages incredible turnaround to win FIDE World Cup Under-12 Girls' Championship

Divi Bijesh staged an incredible comeback from a tough position to win the FIDE World Cup Under-12 Girls Championship that took place in Batumi, Georgia from 15 to 27 June. Divi, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, was languishing at the 21st spot following her third-round loss to China’s Zixin Huang, leaving her needing a flurry of victories in the remaining rounds if she was to finish anywhere near the top.

The 11-year-old, however, bounced back from what was her only defeat of 11-round tournament by collecting five consecutive wins, which helped her move into the lead by Round 7 that she would not relinquish thereafter.

Her winning streak ended with a draw against Russia's Viktoria Makhina in the ninth round. Divi would then defeat compatriot Sharvaanica AS in the penultimate round before playing out a draw against Alisa Yunker in the final round.

More from Chess

Yunker was half-a-point behind Divi heading into the final round and needed a victory over the Indian if she was to pip her to the title in the final round, but could not find a way to breach her opponent's defence and force a resignation.

Kazakhstan's Milana Filippova finished level on 8.5 points with Yunker with a hat-trick of wins in her last three rounds, but finished at the third spot.

Divi continues to impress at a tender age

What made Divi's victory even more special besides her incredible comeback in the latter half of the event was the fact that she prevailed over some of the best players in the age category such as Yunker and Sharvaanica.

She's also ranked 21st in the world in the U-12 girls age group and eighth in the U-11 category, making her triumph even more impressive.

With her victory on Saturday, Divi, who trains under Sreejith GS at the Masters Chess Academy, now has three age-group world titles to her name across the last two years, having previously won the inaugural FIDE World Cup Under-10 Girls Championship. She is also the reigning World Under-10 Rapid champion.

Divi, whose father Bijesh S had quit his well-paying IT job in late 2024 to support her chess ambitions, has 25 medals to her name at the age of 11 including 13 international gold medals.