WCM Modipalli Deekshitha soared from 1985 to a dwell score of 2454 in 4 European tournaments, climbing to second on the earth amongst ladies beneath 20.
Simply over a month in the past, the 14-year-old Indian from Hyderabad was rated under 2000. Now she has reached a dwell score of 2454, earned her first worldwide grasp norm, and have become the second-highest-rated lady beneath 20 on the earth and the fourth-highest-rated Indian lady, forward of GM Harika Dronavalli.
Deekshitha earned a unprecedented 469 score factors throughout a four-tournament tour of Europe, starting in France after which shifting to Spain and Portugal. The final two tournaments alone—the Pontevedra Open and Leca Open—added 297 factors to her score.
It is a outstanding climb, but it surely did not come fully with out warning. On the KCA Worldwide Chess Pageant final yr, simply months after she turned 13, she defeated GM Manuel Petrosyan, rated greater than 600 factors above her. Within the Indian Ladies’s Crew Chess Championship earlier this yr, she defeated IM Padmini Rout, who represented India within the Chess Olympiad on a number of events.
Throughout her European tour, the spotlight got here in Pontevedra, Spain, from July 24-30. Deekshitha was seeded 81st with a score of 1985 among the many 92 individuals. She completed thirteenth with 5.5/9, with all 9 opponents titled, together with two GMs and 5 IMs. Deekshitha scored 5 attracts and received three video games, two of them towards IMs.
The spotlight was her win towards 2402-rated IM Facundo Vazquez.
The end result secured Deekshitha a 2465 efficiency, a score acquire of 184 factors and her first IM norm, in addition to a WGM and a WIM norm.
Deekshitha Modipalli, simply 13 or 14, was rated beneath 2000 final month, however made an IM norm in Pontevedra! 🇮🇳🤯
She matched Sarayu Velpula’s ridiculous feat from 3 years in the past (!), and like Sarayu then, she’s additionally gaining over 400 Elo from primarily Pontevedra & the Leça Open!
📷: CBI pic.twitter.com/DtvYmDXr5w
— Ladies’s Chess Protection (@OnTheQueenside) August 6, 2026
However her European tour hadn’t reached its closing vacation spot. The Leca Chess Open in Portugal, some hours south, began on July 31, the day after the Pontevedra occasion ended. It did not take lengthy earlier than she proved that her end in Spain had not been a one-off.
Within the second spherical, she defeated 2373-rated FM Lennert Lenaerts.
Vazquez, certainly one of her victims from Spain, received his revenge in Portugal, however Deekshitha responded with consecutive victories over IM Daniel Rivera Kuzawka and FM Samuel Jesus Pereira Goncalves. A draw towards FM Miguel Sismeiro took her to 4.5/7, in rivalry for her second IM norm.
Nevertheless, the 14-year-old misplaced her final two video games, ending with 4.5/9 and a 2302 score efficiency, sufficient to safe her second WIM norm. She additionally added 122 factors to her score.
Earlier than her rampage in Spain and Portugal, Deekshitha scored two nice leads to France. On the La Plagne Masters, she scored 5/9 ending forty fifth with a 2322 efficiency. She then performed the Les Menuires Masters, the place she completed on 4.5/9, gaining 29 score factors.
Her coach, IM Krishna Teja at his Velocity Chess Academy in Hyderabad, tells Chess.com that certainly one of Deekshitha’s best strengths is her capacity to recuperate when tournaments are going badly.
“Deekshitha is relatively good at dealing with stress,” he mentioned, pointing to a recurring sample of sturdy comebacks within the second half of occasions.
That was evident all through her European journey. In line with Krishna, Deekshitha scored sufficient factors for a WIM norm at La Plagne however missed out as a result of she had not confronted sufficient titled opponents. At Les Menuires, she struggled by the primary six rounds earlier than successful her closing three video games.
Pontevedra was the place every little thing got here collectively. Krishna famous Deekshitha was barely worse in a number of video games towards 2400-rated opponents however managed to defend troublesome positions. At different occasions, as an alternative of defending, she created imbalances and managed to show inferior positions into wins.
He was arguably much more impressed together with her chess in Portugal.
“Her final event video games have been the most effective, besides the final two video games,” he mentioned, highlighting three or 4 attacking victories towards higher-rated opponents. He additionally praised two video games she ultimately misplaced after persevering with to battle quite than in search of a simple draw.
ChessBase India visited Krishna’s profitable chess academy in Hyderabad final yr.
By the conclusion of the 4 tournaments, Deekshitha’s dwell score had climbed from 1985 to an unimaginable 2454. The score acquire additionally remodeled Deekshitha’s place on the world rankings. At 1985, she was round 30,000th amongst energetic gamers worldwide. With a 2454 score, she is now among the many high 1000 highest-rated gamers on the earth—a leap of about 29,000 locations in little greater than a month.
Amongst girls, she is at the moment ranked world number-21.
Deekshitha’s journey in chess has been unusually quick. Her father mentioned in an interview with ChessBase India that she started enjoying in early 2022, in the course of the COVID-19 interval, when she was 9. Lower than a yr later, Deekshitha received the 2023 Nationwide Colleges Below-11 Ladies Championship. Rated simply 1226, she scored 7.5/9 and took the title on tiebreak.
Her progress continued in 2025 by dominating the Indian Nationwide Below-13 Ladies Championship unbeaten with 9.5/11.
Curiously, there’s a parallel between her breakthrough and the spectacular rise of one other scholar of Krishna and his chess academy.
In 2023, Chess.com reported on how then 17-year-old WIM Sarayu Velpula, rated solely 1845 on the time, performed the identical Pontevedra-Leca double. She scored certainly one of the most sensational results ever by ending second in Pontevedra with 6.5/9 and a 2575 score efficiency, incomes WIM, WGM, and IM norms.
Three years later, Deekshitha has adopted the identical route by Spain and Portugal. Whereas her rise unfold throughout 4 tournaments, the impact was equally noteworthy as she is yet one more instance of a closely underrated Indian teenager climbing a whole lot of score factors in a matter of weeks.
The distinction is that Deekshitha is barely 14—and she or he has already crossed 2450. “I’m utterly centered on chess,” Deekshitha mentioned within the ChessBase India interview.
I’m utterly centered on chess.
—Deekshitha Modipalli
She defined that she doesn’t attend common courses and goes to high school solely to take her examinations. Her father mentioned she had stopped attending faculty usually in early 2023.
Deekshitha has additionally needed to grow to be unbiased at a younger age. By 13, she was touring alone to native tournaments as a result of her mother and father weren’t all the time accessible to take her.
“My mother and father are usually not that accessible to drive me to each event,” she mentioned. “For native tournaments, I’ve to go on my own.”
Her ambitions are equally clear. “My final purpose is to grow to be a GM and world champion,” Deekshitha mentioned, “however my present purpose is to grow to be a WIM or a WGM.”
Deekshita is now returning to India, and her subsequent problem will probably be sustaining the extent as soon as her official score catches up.
