In a lighthearted moment before the start of the exhibition chess event “Checkmate: USA vs India” in Arlington, Texas, 2025 Women’s World Cup winner GM Divya Deshmukh found herself in a hilarious situation.The 19-year-old Grandmaster noticed that her jersey had her surname printed incorrectly as “Desk-mukh” instead of Deshmukh.Spotting the typo just before taking her seat, Divya couldn’t contain her laughter. In a clip that quickly went viral on social media, she can be seen giggling and saying, “So sad!” before bursting into laughter again. Fans loved her cheerful reaction, praising her for taking the error sportingly.Click here to watch the full video of Divya Deshmukh’s reaction after spotting the error on her jerseyThe fun moment provided a rare dose of humour on an otherwise tough day for Team India, who suffered a 5-0 defeat to Team USA in the exhibition event. The highlight match featured World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju facing off against American star Hikaru Nakamura in a three-part contest — 10-minute, five-minute, and one-minute (bullet) games. After drawing the first two rounds, Gukesh fell to a stunning back-rank checkmate by Nakamura in the bullet decider. Despite having the initial advantage, Gukesh couldn’t withstand Nakamura’s trademark speed and precision. The American Grandmaster leapt from his chair in celebration as the audience applauded the dramatic finish.Elsewhere, Arjun Erigaisi lost to Fabiano Caruana, while Divya Deshmukh went down to Carissa Yip. IM Sagar Shah faced defeat against popular streamer IM Levy Rozman, and young prodigy Ethan Vaz was beaten by Tanitoluwa Adewumi.A return leg of the India-USA chess series is set to take place in India, where Team India will look for redemption — and perhaps, this time, with everyone’s names spelled right.
