All the right moves
Saturday July 26 2008
17:05 IST N Jagannath Das
Winner of the World Under-14 Championship in 2001; Asia’s youngest International Woman Master in 1999; India’s youngest Woman Grandmaster in 2001; at 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, the youngest woman to become a Grandmaster, beating Judit Polgar’s record by three months, Koneru Humpy’s achievements are laudable.
Coached by her father, Dronacharya awardee Koneru Ashok, world number 2 Humpy has reached a career best Elo rating of 2,622 and is preparing for the Women’s World Chess Championship to be held in Nalchik, Kabardina-Balkaria, Russian Federation from August 28 to September 18.
Excerpts from an interview…
On how it feels to be the second best woman player in the world. In the July 2008 list, I had an Elo rating of 2,622 – my career-best. My target is to reach a rating of 2,650 and I feel confident about reaching that mark.
On how the change in timing and venue of the Women’s World Chess Championship from Greece in mid-June to Russia in Agust-September has affected her preparations The change in timing and venue hasn’t affected me much because I was busy with other tournaments till May and was yet to start my preparations when the initial announcement was made. Now, I have had sufficient time to prepare.
On the opponents she needs to watch out for at the World Championship Since it is a knockout tournament, every round will be crucial. Much depends on the pairing but I expect to meet tough opponents from Round 2 onwards.
On her opponent in the first round In the first round, I will meet Alaa El Din Yorsa of Egypt. On who is more dangerous between the Chinese and Russian players It is difficult to compare players in that manner.
Overall, Antoaneta Stefanova, Hou Yifan, Marie Sebag, Maya Chiburdanidze and Alexandra Kosteniuk are tough opponents. No opponent is difficult or easy to face as everything depends on the player’s form during an event.
On whether she has received any financial aid from the Centre, state government or chess federation to help her preparations for the World Championship The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has always been supportive. The Centre organises training camps but I have not attended them as I am trained by my father.
However, the Andhra Pradesh government has not been very supportive. In fact, I am yet to receive the cash awards promised to me after I won at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
On who will accompany her to the World Championship My father-cum-coach Koneru Ashok, a Dronacharya awardee, accompanies me to all tournaments.
On how the prize money offered at the Women’s World Championship compares with the men’s event The prize money is $60,000 for the women and 6-8 times more for the men.
On whether the format of the World Championship needs to be changed The tournament has a 64-player knockout format. I feel it would be better divide the players into groups and turn it into a round-robin event with semifinals for the winners of the groups.
On her next major international tournament The North Urals Cup in Ekaterinburg, Russia, between July 26 and August 4. On how the North Urals Cup has changed The level of the tournament has gone up with many players having an Elo rating above 2,500. When I played in the tournament in 2005, I was the top seed with a rating of 2,487.
On major tournaments for women being practically non-existent in India It is true that we don’t have any major tournaments for women. Europe and Russia are ahead of India in this regard.
On chess gaining in popularity among Indian women India has become stronger in chess overall. We have 18 Grandmasters now. On whether she is under pressure to play international tournaments There is no such pressure. The AICF has always been supportive and given me the freedom to choose my tournaments.
On the advice she would give youngsters Youngsters should play chess according to their level of interest in the game. Hard work and determination are required, but one should also have the patience to wait for success.
Source: http://www.newindpress.com
Will she ever be 2700?
Maybe…If she doesn’t get married and have children before age 40.
🙂
It is strange that a woman named Humpy doesn’t have children.
Okay
there is a good chance she will reach 2700. She has been going up all the time. However, to do so, she has to stop playing in women’s tournaments. She is not going to play in the women’s olympiad – a first for her. I think thisis a step in the right direction.
Wrong!
She was being offered to play in the Indian men’s selection in Olympiad, but she refused.