Hyderabad, July 30 -- India is making its mark across the chess world like a formidable colossus. Our male chess players have already proved that they are the best in the world. Recently, it was the turn of the women, and they too did it in style. On Monday, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh crowned herself the new queen of international women's chess when she edged out the highly reputed Koneru Humpy in a tension-filled tie-breaker of the FIDE Women's World Cup final held in Georgia.

For the first time, two Indian women were playing against each other in the final match. This has never happened, and in itself, it speaks volumes about the rise of India in this game. The legendary Vishwanathan Anand congratulated both players for their excellent...