CHENNAI: SOMETIME in 2024, Koneru Humpy thought of leaving chess. It wasn't an epiphany or anything but that thought was there, swirling in her head. On the board, results had refused to come and she had lost ranking points.
At the women's Candidates in Canada, she also had to deal with the loss of her maternal grandfather. During that first week in Toronto last April, she used to play games on autopilot. After those matches, she retreated to her hotel room to grieve. After the first six rounds, she had two points. Joint last, four draws, two losses. Even if she came storming back to finish joint second, the young mother had thought her moment to fight for the World Championship match had come and gone.
When she began the year, her Classical rating was north of 2550. Ten months later, she had lost over 20 points and had slid down the rankings. So, it was only natural to think about the future.
Then, the comeback. In December, she won the World Rapids for the second time. "This is unexpected because the whole year I have been a struggling a lot," she had said post that event in New York. "I had very bad tournaments where I just ended up in last place."
Becoming world champion in Rapid was one thing. She still harbored ambitions of giving the women's Candidates another crack but the path — especially a young mother and someone on the wrong side of 35 — was going to be tricky.
When in Stavanger for Norway Chess, she said 'it's going to be a big challenge'.
"It would be nice to qualify for the Candidates again but it's going to be a challenging task," she had said. "I already missed it in the Grand Prix, I would have to do really well in the Grand Swiss, World Cup to do it via the leaderboard..."
During that conversation with Indian journalists in the tournament hotel, the 38-year-old kept coming back to a phrase. "I will keep fighting". "It's always about fighting spirit, not accepting defeat," the Vijayawada-born player remarked. "It's about proving that you are the best. That's what keeps me going."
Over the last two weeks at the women's World Cup in Batumi, she has showed that in abundance. In the third round against the seasoned Alexandra Kosteniuk, she had to produce her Rapid chops as it went to tie-breaks. She won with the white pieces before holding her own with black. That, though, was just a precursor. In the semifinals, she produced nerves of steel to beat Lei Tingjie on tie-breaks.
What has changed? Not much. She's still the same old Humpy. As soon as she goes home, she doesn't want anything to do with the game as she likes to switch off (daughter, Ahana, also keeps her busy). Her dad still plays a prominent role in her chess. She still doesn't like to feature in back-to-back events as she prefers a month long breaks.
Off late, though, she has started to see more chess videos on the internet. "It wasn't part of my routine or anything, now it's," she had said during the same interaction. "I also do a lot of puzzles."
On Saturday, she will face Divya Deshmukh in a clash between generations; India's present up against the game's future in this country. Both of them have already qualified for the women's Candidates in 2026 but the immediate prize — World Cup winner — is what will be on their respective minds. Humpy will back herself to solve the Deshmukh puzzle.
