‘Divya Is Like MS Dhoni, Can Perform Incredibly Well Under Pressure': Ex-Coach Srinath
Divya Deshmukh on Monday became India's 88th Grandmaster as she defeated the seasoned Koneru Humpy in the FIDE Women's World Cup with a tie-break win. The victory came after the two classical games played on Saturday and Sunday ended in draws.
Divya's former coach, Srinath Narayanan, described her as abundantly talented but more significantly, incredibly cool in crunch situations. Speaking with PTI, Srinath also said he feels the 19-year-old chess wizard's composure is comparable only to cricket great M S Dhoni.
'She's quite an aggressive player. But with time, Divya has become more all-round, more versatile. I think she's equally good across all the different formats… Classical, Rapid and Blitz," Srinath was quoted as saying by the PTI.
'And her strength is, I think, turning up in those big moments, crunch situations. Like how Mahendra Singh Dhoni used to win the matches in the last over.
'I saw something similar in Divya in those last-round situations or situations where everything was hanging in the high-pressure moments. She used to perform incredibly well under pressure in important matches," he added.
'So, it (association) started around 2018. We met at the World Under-16 Olympiad. The team was going to Turkey. I was the coach of the team, and I met her for the first time at the airport.
'She was incredibly talented. And she also had a certain kind of ability to win these big games and tournaments. So, in the very first tournament that I coached her, she won a very important game in the last round against Iran," said Srinath about the chess prodigy from Nagpur, whose parents are doctors.
'And because of that victory, we were able to win the silver medal in Turkey. I worked with her until 2020. And after that, during the (COVID-19) lockdown, the interactions became less."
With her achievements, Srinath feels she was already 'overqualified in terms of her playing level when she came into the women's World Cup."
'She is very strong. And in terms of her potential, she was very much there (at the GM level even before the tournament started)," he added.
A three-time gold medallist at the Olympiad, Divya has also won multiple gold medals at the Asian Championship, the World Junior Championship as well as the World Youth Championship. However, coming into the women's World Cup and beating some of the biggest names in the business needed more than just luck, and here's where her talent came to the fore.
(With PTI Inputs)
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