NEW DELHI: In a nation of over 1.5 billion individuals, each milestone carries weight. Nevertheless, some triumphs transcend private accomplishments as they make clear uncomfortable truths. Divya Deshmukh’s latest victory on the FIDE Ladies’s World Cup was one such second.At simply 18, the Nagpur-born turned India’s 88th Grandmaster (GM), becoming a member of an elite membership that represents the top of chess achievement throughout the globe. However hidden behind the applause and accolades lies a sobering reality: Divya is simply the fourth girl from India to earn that tag. In a rustic with one of many world’s fastest-growing chess ecosystems, why have solely 4 ladies made it to the highest, whereas greater than 80 males have achieved so?The disparity is not only statistical; it’s symptomatic of a deeper situation.Go Past The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!For GM Harika Dronavalli, the street to success started with one thing deceptively easy.“I used to be launched to chess at a younger age by my household, and whereas I loved it, the second that really sparked my drive was seeing a rolling trophy being awarded to the winner of an area event,” Harika, who started her chess journey on the age of seven, tells TimesofIndia.com.“That stayed with me. I wished to win one myself. The next yr, I went on to win the Nationwide Championship in my age class. That victory modified every thing.”That change set her on a journey that led to international recognition, however it wasn’t all the time simple.“Again then, chess didn’t get as a lot public consideration or sponsorship help,” she remembers. “It was exhausting to maintain motivation. The respect that younger gamers obtain as we speak was a lot more durable to return by once I was beginning out.”
Chess participant Harika Dronavalli (R) (Photograph by Salah Malkawi/ Getty Photographs)
But Harika is fast to make clear that her struggles weren’t all the time gender-specific. “I wouldn’t say I confronted challenges that have been particularly due to my gender. I’ve been lucky in that regard,” she explains. “However ladies will not be pushed to pursue formidable targets in the identical means boys are. That’s a actuality. The expertise is definitely there, however societal expectations typically clip these wings early. If we nurture aspirations from a younger age and supply the best help system, teaching, competitors, and confidence, we’ll begin to see that hole shut.”GM Srinath Narayanan, a coach and one of many nation’s most revered chess minds, has spent years working with India’s prime gamers, each women and men.When requested why India has solely 4 feminine GMs, his response is each clear and layered.“There are a number of interrelated causes. Chess, like many different fields, displays broader societal patterns. Women in India typically face extra strain to prioritise lecturers or home duties over sports activities. Additionally, chess calls for sustained funding: time, journey, teaching, and households could hesitate to help ladies long-term in such a profession,” he says.“There’s a noticeable drop-off after the age of 13-15, when many promising woman gamers decelerate or stop. Security issues throughout journey, and even throughout coaching additionally put ladies at an obstacle.
Srinath Narayanan
“From a really younger age, boys compete in stronger open swimming pools with different boys, whereas ladies compete in a weaker pool with different ladies. That has long-term penalties. Competing in a weaker area limits their progress. The ladies who’ve gone on to interrupt these shackles typically compete in open sections from a really younger age. However that’s not a simple determination. Being the very best girl participant on the planet affords extra consolation and safety than being quantity 100 within the open part, which doesn’t get you very far financially. So ladies are incentivised to compete solely amongst themselves, the place the ceiling is far decrease.”This entrenchment of gendered expectations creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.“The mindset that males are superior to ladies in chess just isn’t useful,” the 31-year-old Grandmaster provides. “Though that is fully unfaithful, repeating it sufficient occasions makes it a part of our perception system. A perception of being inherently inferior causes decrease confidence ranges, decrease expectations, and turns into a self-limiting issue.“Chess is dear, and until a participant has robust backing, it’s powerful to maintain going, particularly with out quick outcomes. As ladies get older, there’s typically extra strain to evolve to conventional roles, prioritise lecturers, or go for “safer” profession paths.”Worldwide Grasp (IM) Vantika Agrawal, one of the promising younger feminine gamers in India, a three-time gold medalist on the Chess Olympiad, and Arjuna Award recipient, factors to a number of sensible roadblocks, with considered one of them being the problem in taking part in tournaments overseas as they provide larger scores and higher probabilities to win a GM norm (a participant should earn three GM norms and cross the 2500 FIDE score mark to change into a GM).
Vantika Agrawal
“It’s financially difficult to play plenty of tournaments overseas. They want an accompanying particular person to journey with them, whereas boys begin travelling alone from an early age,” the 23-year-old explains.“Feminine gamers don’t get a lot alternative to play with a lot stronger gamers, which hampers their progress. Taking part in in solely feminine tournaments can result in a scarcity of publicity to totally different kinds of play.“And our society remains to be male-dominated. Ladies don’t get equal alternatives and help.”Vantika is candid about what wants to alter.“Feminine gamers want monetary help to allow them to achieve expertise taking part in higher-rated tournaments overseas and the publicity wanted to succeed in the following degree. Extra grandmaster spherical robins with (2500-2600 rated GMs) must be performed in India, and upcoming prime feminine gamers ought to get an opportunity in that. It should assist them to enhance and obtain norms sooner.”Sreekar Channapragada, co-founder of MGD1, which manages a lot of India’s prime Grandmasters, agrees that the foundation of the issue is structural.“The best reply is a scarcity of help. There’s inadequate backing from dad and mom, coaches, federations, and even sponsors. That makes it exhausting for women to see chess as an actual profession path. Fewer of them keep it up, and which means fewer potential feminine Grandmasters,” Sreekar opines.“There’s a must nurture perception in feminine gamers that they aren’t held again in any means from competing on the highest ranges. They will compete within the open class and nonetheless come out victorious. We frequently see perception at a younger age. Nevertheless it fades as they get older. That should change.”ALSO READ: ‘Safety protocol’: Why Divya Deshmukh performed World Cup-winning transfer inside empty venueSo what may be achieved?The solutions are many, however they converge on one level: there should be coordinated motion from each stakeholder within the chess ecosystem. Mother and father should encourage their daughters’ ambitions. Coaches should scout and mentor feminine expertise with long-term plans. Federations should create inclusive insurance policies and prioritise feminine illustration. Sponsors should step up with dedicated monetary help. And most of all, society should imagine, actually imagine, that ladies may be Grandmasters not despite their gender, however no matter it.Divya Deshmukh’s GM title, earned regardless of having no norms earlier than the Ladies’s World Cup, is a monumental second in Indian chess historical past, however it mustn’t stay an anomaly. It must be a spark. As a result of the true victory will come when her story just isn’t distinctive, however anticipated.