HYDERABAD: There is a different joy of being a mother. India's Koneru Humpy had won the World Rapid Chess Championship on Saturday but when she spoke about the win a day later, she could not help but speak about her seven-year-old daughter. Humpy's daughter was a thousand miles away in Vijayawada with her parents.
"My daughter won a gold medal in abacus yesterday (Saturday), so she was having her own moment," Humpy told this daily from New York on Sunday. For Humpy, her daughter's victory seems to be as big as her second world rapid medal, a record she shares with China's Ju Wenjun. "I spoke to my daughter just after the win." The 37-year-old from Vijayawada last won the title in 2019.
Sleep-deprived, missing her daughter while playing against some of the game's stalwarts, yet she remained unflustered and finished the tournament with 8.5 out of 11 points. She reached the venue jet-lagged and did not have a proper sleep. The year 2024 was not as she would have liked it to be. There was a time when she was mulling quitting the sport. The win was cathartic.
"It was a rough year for me. I started with Candidates (tied for second) but then in Norway Chess and the Tata Steel Chess, my performance was very bad. I was feeling very low at that time. I even thought of quitting professional chess. That was my state of mind then. But I was not ready to accept the defeat and finish my career on a bad note," she said, adding that she spent the whole of November training for the World Rapid and Blitz event.
Chess could not have asked for a better end to the year. Men's world champion in D Gukesh, Candidates, World Cup finalist, Chess Olympiad gold for men and women and now a world rapid woman champion.
"There were a lot of spectators cheering considering it was being organised in the Financial District of New York (at Wall Street). I was ranked 10th at the start and lost the first round. I finished the day with only 2.5 points in four games. I did not imagine then that I could win. I was only looking to fight back after the first game's loss. On Day 2, I won all the four games which helped me to climb to the joint lead. But after Day 3 ended in draws, I was expecting tie-breaks. I did not know that I had won and was preparing for tie-breaks. It was only when the arbiter told me I realised. I was surprised."
On her winning the tournament for the second time, Humpy said, "With time, the younger generation is competing fiercely and it is not easy to repeat the feat. You are more poised and energetic to win something the first time. Winning for the second time is even tougher as many players are half my age."
Enjoying a day's rest after her historic triumph, Humpy will now start with the World Blitz event from December 30.