You could be someone that dreams in black-and-white checks since forever that you can remember and go onto very close to World No 1 in women’s chess. But one sleepless night with mosquitos swarming the hotel room of the event you are competing in can still throw all plans into disarray.
Good thing then that Koneru Humpy has enough experience in swatting away such irritants and keeping her poise. Fighting from extremely precarious situations in the penultimate round to hold onto a draw after blundering, the 38-year-old, did well to secure a Knight-ending against Nurgyul Salimova and finished tops jointly with Chinese Zhu Jiner on 7/9 points. A better tie-break score however gave India’s finest women’s chess player, the title win at Pune’s Women’s Grand Prix.
5.6 million tuned in on the live online broadcast over the 9 rounds – a record for any women’s Grand Prix, but the chess chatrooms crescendoed with over 1000 on the FIDE feed as Humpy rode a rollercoaster to ensure the win. Zhu Jiner had won her final game earlier, which meant Humpy had to tie up the decisive result against the Bulgarian, and she kept it clinical.
While the Candidates spot wasn’t sealed, Humpy reckons she has rediscovered her sharpness in the classical format, which had gone missing last year. “It’s been a long time since I did well in classical. I had struggled the whole of last year, losing heavily, so I was happy to improve in that format,” she said. “The upturn started after winning the Rapid world title,” she added. She was top of the charts at the Monaco Grand Prix too, ringing in 2025.
At 38, stringing together wins is not as breezy or stomping as it used to be. But the Rapid world title ignited a spark that had been dulling, as her confidence slowly transferred to the longer format. She wasn’t unaware of the fading light, the flagging motivation, which is why she saw each win over younger, snappier opponents as a stride forward in rediscovering her verve, finding her groove.
“After the second rapid title, I felt motivated to play again. Chess wasn’t same as when I was younger, it was challenging. But I’ve started feeling the buzz especially when I beat talented youngsters, some 15 – 20 years younger than me,” she says. “It feels reassuring to get those wins,” she stresses.
No one would’ve faulted her had she moved on to a calmer life, having achieved more than most women in the world have in chess. But the claws had stayed sharp with the world title missing, though there’s no hint of desperation of time and opportunities passing her by. “I’m not really bothered about qualification for Candidates. I’ll follow other Grand Prix results like normally, but no stress. Will focus on my tournaments in Norway and USA.”
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All this last week, she has played with the sort of free spirit of someone not trying to prove any point. Humpy was always an attacking player, not playing unduly safe, but her first classical win against Zhu, and rearguard riposte in the draw against Alina Kashlinskya was the mark of someone whose mind was composed and not wavering under deadline pressure. She converted a very small advantage against Zhu into a win and kept resisting doggedly against Alina, drawing out a blunder in an attritional draw.
“It was a good tournament in Pune except the poor game yesterday (Tuesday). That was a complete mistake,” she would say, though she had held her ground and reckoned fortune favoured her courage.
The push to qualify for Candidates first – she still can in multiple ways – and the world title, is a little more emotive for the Indian chess fraternity as the upcoming women’s World Championship cycle is viewed similar to how Sachin Tendulkar chased the 50 over World Cup in 2011. Pune’s GM Abhijeet Kunte who has followed Humpy’s career for years says she deserves a strong support system – a complete team, comparable to what the Chinese WGMs get, once she makes the Candidates cut. “She’s playing really well, relaxed and confident, with no desperation. But for the world title push, she should form a complete team – coach and seconds ofcourse but also an elite level mentor who addresses the long term problems that have kept her from winning. She is extremely well motivated, but we need to put together a crack team for her extending all support to help her fight,” he says.
Humpy hasn’t spoken particularly about who her previous teams have been, in earlier title pursuits. But Pune could be a start of a renewed impetus as she finds glee and grit in the classical format. Mobbed by fans in hundreds who hiked up to a private club property, all waiting for the old-fashioned autographs on posters and cutouts with her pictures as well as chess sets, Humpy knows she has a huge following rooting for her. The online buzz peaked as she raced to win her 7th point. She’s feeling groovy about the classical gig too – she doesn’t need the world title badly, but sitting back relaxed and coolly calculating, she could be in the best frame of mind to go after it too.
