Exclusive | GM Koneru Humpy on her historic world rapid title in New York: 'Nobody expected me to win this'

Indian chess had arguably experienced its greatest year till date in 2024. Not only did D Gukesh become the youngest champion in the history of the Candidates Tournament as well as the World Championship , Arjun Erigaisi made history by becoming only the second Indian to breach the 2800 ELO Rating. As if that wasn’t enough, India ended up completing a historic golden sweep at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September, announcing itself as the new global power in the sport in the process.

It wasn’t just the men who were achieving one historic feat after another though. Women’s chess icon Koneru Humpy, who had become the first Indian woman to achieve the title of Grandmaster in chess and the seventh Indian overall, made history towards the year during the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York City.

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Despite starting her women’s rapid campaign with a defeat against Kazakhstani International Master Amina Kairbekova, the 37-year-old quickly got back on her feet and propelled herself to the top half of the standings with six wins and a draw in the next seven games, going level with Chinese GM Ju Wenjun and surging past Russian GM Kateryna Lagno in the process.

Humpy would go neck-and-neck with Wenjun in their next couple of games, and the two were level on 7.5 points along with another Indian GM Harika Dronavalli and three others ahead of the 11th and final round. While everyone else played out a stalemate to finish on 8 points, Humpy sealed her historic triumph by defeating Indonesia’s Irine Sukandar in 67 moves while playing with black pieces, finishing with 8.5 points.

Humpy had first been crowned women’s world rapid champion during the 2019 Championship in Moscow, and in December, became only the second player after Ju to be crowned women’s world rapid champion more than once . A year that had witnessed Indian youngsters dominate headlines for the most part capped off perfectly with a veteran making a triumphant return to the top.

Humpy rates second world rapid title as her top achievement

Speaking exclusively to Firstpost, Humpy described her victory at the ‘Big Apple’ at the very top when it came to ranking it among her greatest achievements till date, more so because few expected her to go as far as she did.

“This is one of the best achievements probably I should place this on top because nobody expected me to win this. It’s very rare like when you are already 37 and your career graph is falling down a bit. So people don’t expect you to become a world champion. So at this point winning it very comfortably, yeah, definitely it stays on the top.

“And also the 2019 World Rapid is a very crucial one because I played it after a break of almost one-and-a-half year from my maternity break and winning the title is also, it kind of motivated me to spend more time on chess and like becoming the youngest grandmaster way back in 2002 and winning the Asian gold medals in 2006, they are certain memories which like can’t be neglected but definitely this rapid title stays as the priority,” Humpy, who had recently been appointed brand ambassador of SOG Grandmaster Series, told Firstpost.

When the Indian National anthem was played in New York! The moments when GM Koneru Humpy was crowned as the Women's World Rapid Chess Champion 2024.#chess #chessbaseindia #koneruhumpy #worldchampion pic.twitter.com/rLug73NERC

— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) January 1, 2025

It wasn’t really the preparation for the event that mattered for her as much as having the right mindset, which ultimately made the difference. Humpy, who has been playing chess from the age of six and has been coached by her father Ashok since childhood, added that it was that mindset that allowed her to fight back from a loss in the very first round and eventually finish as the outright winner, and not via tie-breaks like in 2019 against China’s Lei Tingjie.

“I believe it’s all about the mindset because I have been preparing for many years and especially before the world rapid I had a drastic failure in Tata Steel Chess. So I had around a month break between these two tournaments, and in those days I had a very thoughtful planning like how to proceed for the rapid event, and rapid and blitz. And also I made sure that I didn’t use laptop much like I was more of a practical person during that period doing solving puzzles following all the previous games of the world champions and all.

“So that was the guidance given to me by my father. I think that is one of the reasons and my mindset was the I think key point because when I lost the first game, I was very much determined to come back and you know, I was very alert in taking up the opportunities whenever it comes. So that really helped me to win the title,” Humpy, who had won the Arjuna Award in 2003 and Padma Shri in 2007, added.

No regrets, says Humpy on skipping historic Olympiad campaign

For Humpy, taking a break at the right time was an important contributing factor towards her triumph in the World Rapid Championship besides her mindset. Unfortunately in her case, a break meant missing out on India’s campaign at the Chess Olympiad in September. Humpy was part of the Indian contingent that had won a historic bronze in the ‘Open’ as well as the ‘Women’ sections in the previous Olympiad two years ago in Chennai, and was expected to lead the women’s team’s charge for a maiden gold in the Hungarian capital two years later.

Humpy, however, decided to withdraw from the event citing her hectic workload as well as personal reasons, opting to keep herself fresh for her trip to New York in December instead. In her absence, Harika was the senior figure in the women’s team along with IM Tania Sachdev. It also had GM R Vaishali, IMs Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal as they ended up winning gold along with the Open team that was led by Gukesh and Arjun.

Reflecting on her decision to pull out of the Olympiad, Humpy insists she has no regrets while adding that her withdrawal might have indirectly helped her win the rapid title three months later.

“I had a very packed up schedule and at the same time due to some personal reasons I had to stay back at home during that period. So I don’t regret the decisions I take because I always believe that whatever happens is the best. Probably I missed the Olympiad. So that was the reason that I did well in the World Rapid. So I never take those things as you know mistakes or something, like whatever comes in the flow of life, I just go ahead with that.”

Humpy had already established herself as one of the greats of the game long before her historic feat in New York. However, her latest triumph comes at a time when Indian chess players are receiving attention and fanfare like never before. For Humpy, getting noticed and approached at airports and receiving widespread praise for a second rapid title certainly is a feeling that she wouldn’t complain about. It was also the perfect way for her to end what was a mixed year, one where she had “struggled a lot”.

“Well as a player I had a very mixed year like I started the Candidates with the second place. But then I struggled a lot in most of the tournaments. But towards the end, I again won the World Rapid Championship. I would say like, probably winning this tournament is the biggest impact in the Indian Chess because from then onwards, I see like, even when I’m in the airport or in public places, people start coming to me and saying that winning for the second time is quite a tough job and they start appreciating me.

“So somewhere I think probably everybody understood the efforts I have put in from these many years to sustain here. So I think that has a larger impact, especially on the women players and the younger generation,” said Humpy, who currently has her sights set on improving her Classical rating and qualifying for the Candidates Tournament in 2026.

‘I still remember playing lots of Olympiads without having a proper team’

Reflecting on the growth of women’s chess from the time she first started playing in the late 1990s to the present day, Humpy reminisced about a time when she used to compete in Olympiads without a proper team, and how the tables have turned since then.

“Oh, it’s a drastic development, I would say, because I still remember playing lots of Olympiads without having a proper team. Only maybe one or two boards we had strong players, but our opponents would always target on the lower boards. So this is how we are. But now today we are on the other side, like we are in a position to target our opponents on those boards. So that way the number of women players has increased and the youngsters are improving further.

“Definitely comparing with the men, the percentage is still very low. I think this needs a special attention so that in the future we’ll not lack of having more women players,” said Humpy, who had broken the legendary Judit Polgar’s record to become the youngest woman GM in 2002 at 15 years, 1 month and 27 days (which has since been surpassed by Hou Yifan).

And on her association with the SOG Grandmasters, which features events such as unique events such as chess for the blind and rummy and is currently taking place on a zonal basis before moving on to the national finals, Humpy described it as having “all the intellectuals under one roof”.

“I am very happy to be associated with them. So this is the first series where you have a chess, chess for blind and also rummy taking place together. And we have all the intellectuals under one roof. So, definitely my addition to this event, I believe that will inspire a lot of youngsters and the chess enthusiasts who are like very keen on learning the game.

“And I think the SOG is doing a great thing in promoting the sport because though we all are aware of the professional players, we don’t really think about the coming up generation like how to give the support to them or how to give a platform for them. So SOG is doing giving that kind of a platform where they could compete and perform,” she signed off.