‘Didn’t expect to win’, Koneru Humpy

India’s Koneru Humpy after winning the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in New York yesterday. Pic/PTI

Braving all odds, 37-year-old Koneru Humpy stood on the podium for the third time in the World Rapid Chess Championship. She won the World Rapid title for the first time in 2019 at Georgia and was runner-up last year. She lost one, drew three and won seven matches in the 11-round competition to emerge champion and thus became the second player in the world, after China's Ju Wenjun, to win the Rapid World title for the second time in New York on Sunday.

Tough competition

The Indian Grandmaster defeated Irene Sukandar of Indonesia to finish at the top with 8.5 points out of 11. "It is very special. In fact, I didn't expect to win it because the competition was too high. Today morning, I felt that it could go to a tie-breaker. But things turned out in my favour as none of the other competitors won their final rounds. That cleared the path for me and incidentally, I was aware of winning the title after I finished the game,'' said a delighted Humpy.

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Speaking from New York, Humpy felt this title is a big relief as she struggled coming into this tournament. "After Candidates, I struggled a lot. I even ended up in last place in the previous two tournaments. I was very low at the start of this tournament. There were thoughts of whether it is time to quit the game. I had to struggle to win this world title. I was 10th seed in this competition. This is one of my memorable victories," Humpy explained.

Stressing on how she hates losing, the Vijayawada-based GM said she was determined to win this tournament. "I hate losing and never wanted to end up as a loser. I always wanted to win and become the No. 1 player. I think that motivated me despite my poor run-up to this tournament. It is not easy to win a world title when you are 37 and also a mother of a seven-year-old. It is quite a challenge because there is fierce competition around. There are many young chess players who can beat any player in the world. In shorter time control, you need to have a lot of energy. I'm happy that I made it," she said.

She recalled being a little younger when she won her first Rapid World title win in 2019. "I was a little younger then when I won my first world title. Now with youngsters coming up, I, at 37, cannot be sharp like them. Considering the age factor, sometimes things don't fall your way. But I think I overcame all these hurdles," Humpy remarked.

Humpy, who has an ELO rating of 2431 in World Rapid ranking, revealed that she had no regrets of missing the Olympiad where the Indian women and men's teams made history by winning gold for the first time. "I had personal reasons to quit the tournament. I think my focus is more as an individual player."

An emotional Humpy said she misses her daughter Ahana a lot whenever she goes out to play tournaments. "She knows that I am a chess player and I travel around a lot for tournaments. Now, she keeps asking me about the placings like how I finished in the tournaments or whether I won a medal or not. I haven't spoken with her yet as it is too early [the interview was done at 7 am IST]. My parents take care of my daughter. Of course, whenever I have long tournaments, she misses me a lot and falls sick. Now I play a limited number of tournaments. I don't play two or three tournaments at a stretch.''

Boom in Indian chess

Humpy is glad about the all-round success in India's chess, like the Indian team winning the Olympiad gold and D Gukesh clinching the classical world title. She said: "It is a great moment for India as we won gold in Olympiads and Gukesh won the World title. The boom in Indian chess is going in a positive way that has made the country proud.'' Humpy's next tournament is World Blitz which starts in two days' time at the same venue.