CHENNAI: Winning a world title after attaining motherhood is special. It doesn’t happen often. Evonne Goolagong Cawley achieved it in 1980, winning the Wimbledon crown. After becoming a mother in 2017, Koneru Humpy accomplished a somewhat similar feat on Saturday, triumphing in the World Women’s Rapid Chess Championship in Moscow. On a tension-filled, nerve-racking final day, Humpy kept her cool, winning on demand twice to fulfil her life-long dream. The Indian sealed the title by winning the one-game Armageddon playoff against China’s Lei Tingjie, which was required because the two were tied 1-1 after their blitz tie-break games. Eight years ago, the Indian had come up second best to Hou Yean in her only world title match in the Albanian capital of Tirana.
Twitter was abuzz with congratulatory messages for Humpy on her monumental feat. Chess stalwarts including five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand hailed the 32-year-old’s show. India No 2 Pentala Harikrishna also hailed Humpy’s performance, saying: “Congratulations to Humpy on winning Women World Rapid Championship in Moscow. Phenomenal comeback in playoff.”
Comebacks are always difficult in sport. It is even harder for mothers who had to take care of their child, besides working hard to reach the best level in their sport.After a long break, Humpy returned to the sport last year at the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, where she fared reasonably. It took almost a year for Humpy to get back to her best. After getting some much-needed tournament practice in the first half of 2019, Humpy triumphed in the Women’s Grand Prix in Skolkovo, Russia, ahead of reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. Bolstered by the win, Humpy showed she has got her mojo back, finishing second in the second leg of the Women’s GP in Monaco.
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Humpy’s next target will be to do well in the ongoing World Women’s Blitz Championship, which concludes on Monday. This victory will spur Humpy to pursue the dream of winning the world classical title, a missing link in her CV.
Blitz meet next up
The 32-year-old’s next target is doing well in the ongoing World Blitz Championships which will conclude on Monday.
Humpy won two must-win games against China’s Lei Tingjie to emerge victorious.