What would have made a good tournament?

A few days ago I wrote about Divya Deshmukh, 19yo Indian woman chess player playing in the Open section of the Grand Swiss tournament. Divya said

Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn.

And I promised to let you know how she got on. So here goes.

Clearly, despite her words, she would have not been happy losing a succession of games, even though her opponents were generally rated 150 and so points above her. And I've mentioned before that for top players it's not too difficult to successfully play for a draw if that's what you want to do. I can't see there would be any point in entering this competition if that's the limit of your ambition, so some wins would be good, together with a smattering of draws. Or the other way round.

The results:

Game 1: loss

Game 2: draw

Game 3: draw

Game 4: win

Game 5: loss

Game 6: draw

Game 7: win

In game 8, Divya played the current World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, rated almost 300 higher than her. Possibly her biggest challenge so far in her career, and a battle of the 19yo Indians. And got a draw after a long drawn out battle. At this point she has 4 points, ahead of the World Champion, who has just 3.5. Remarkable.

Game 9: loss, after a late blunder (yes, even Grandmasters do that!)

Game 10: draw

Game 11: draw

Divya Deshmukh scores 5 points out of 11 and 81st place out of 116 players. If 5/11 doesn't sound great, the winner of the event scored 8 out 11. She ends with a rating of 2497.6, having been 2478.0 at the start of the tournament. And she got a draw against the World Champion.

Also, it's only fair that I mention Aleksandra Goryachkina, also playing in the Open section. She has also already qualified for the Women's Candidates, like Deshmukh, so she also chose to play against the best men. She's 26, slightly higher rated, Russian born competing under a FIDE flag. Her results:

Game 1: loss

Game 2: draw

Game 3: draw

Game 4: win

Game 5: loss

Game 6: loss

Game 7: draw

Game 8: win, she's on 3.5, alongside Gukesh, with three rounds to go.

Game 9: win

Game 10: draw

Game 11: loss, so also 5 out of 11, in 79th place alongside Divya. She ends with a rating of 2541.1, having been 2528.0 at the start of the tournament.

I was unable to find any interviews with Goryachkina, so I can't tell you about her motivation or reaction to her performance.

Overall, a successful tournament for both players; they both played consistently above their ratings and proved they can compete with higher rated Grandmasters. Perhaps they'll be joined by others playing in Open sections in the future.