Koneru Humpy is a Woman Grandmaster from India with FIDE ratings exceeding 2400, making her one of the best female chess players in the world.
Full Name: Koneru Humpy
Title: Grandmaster (2002)
Women Grandmaster (2001)
Born: March 31, 1987
Place of Birth: Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh India
Ratings
World Ranking: 320
Rapid: 2467
Blitz: 2472
Classical (Std): 2586
Profiles
Biography
Most women are mislabeled to be not good in any sports or board games. However, Koneru Humpy has stopped the stigma between females and sports.
Koneru Humpy was born on March 31, 1987, in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Humpy’s father, Ashok Koneru, is also a great chess player who won the Open Championship in South India in 1985. Koneru Humpy inherited her chess skills from his great father.
Koneru Humpy’s given name by her parents was originally “Hampi,” an Indian word that means champion in English translation. However, her father changed it into Humpy to have a slight tone of a Russian name. Thus, his father came up with “Humpy” as a nickname for his daughter.
The 35-year-old Indian chess player was married to his husband, Dasari Anvesh, in August 2014.
Growing up, the five-year-old Humpy has been showing skills and interest in playing chess. With that, his father decided to focus, guide, and train her to enhance and boost Humpy’s skills in chess. Humpy’s father decided to devote all his time to guiding her daughter and focusing on her career.
Since then, Koneru Humpy has continued to pursue her future in the chess industry.
The Beginning
The beginning of Humpy’s interest in chess was shown when she participated in and won the Under 8 National Chess Championship in 1995.
Since then, Koneru Humpy continued her chess journey for five (5) consecutive years. Firstly, in 1997 and 1998 when she joined a chess tournament under the category of 10 and 12 girls division. She then earned the Asian Youth Chess Championship of the 12th division in 1999. The year 2000 was also her winning year clinching three (3) gold medallions in the World Youth Chess Championship in the 14 girls division. Lastly, Koneru attained the title of World Junior Girls Champion, dating back to 2001.
The year the 2000s was the highlight and peak of the career of Koneru Humpy. She then broke the record when she was awarded the title of youngest Grandmaster woman in 2002 when she was just 15 years old. Despite being a young girl, Koneru Humpy didn’t mind competing with boys who were being dominated in the chess industry. In 2004, Humpy faced her great male contender in the World Junior Championship and represented India.
After her outstanding performances in the chess industry, Humpy continues to level up. She participated and represented India in various international chess tournaments. One iconic title that Koneru Humpy has is the first woman in India to be conferred as the international Grandmaster of chess.
Koneru Humpy has received a lot of honors and acknowledgments for her exceptional potential and skills in the chess industry. Her country, India, was proud of how Humpy represented their country very well in different international tournaments.
To give back to her, India’s government granted Humpy the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2003 to acknowledge her achievements of being a chess player. Furthermore, in 2007, she also received the coveted Padma Shri honor.
Achievements
To highlight Koneru Humpy’s mastery in being a chess player, here are some of her iconic and outstanding achievements in being a chess master player.
- Obtained in 1999, the title of Asia’s youngest woman International Master
- The first Indian youngest woman grandmaster
- She clinched the British Women’s Championship in the year 2000 and 2002
- Won in Indian women’s championship
- Bagged two gold medallions in the Asian Games, women’s division in 2006
- Ended in a runner-up ranking in FIDE Women’s division
- Attained a bronze medallion during the women’s world team chess championship in 2015
- Obtained the Monaco Women’s Grand Pix and Skolkovo Women’s Grand Pix both in 2019
- Won in chess tournaments for five consecutive years (From 1997 to 2001)
- An Indian woman who proudly represents his country in different international chess competitions and tournaments
- Awarded with Arjuna Award
- Awarded with Padma Shri
- Won the Women’s World rapid chess tournament in 2019
- Became an Indian BBC Sportswoman in the year 2020
Sources
- https://ratings.fide.com/profile/5008123
- https://sportsmatik.com/sports-stars/koneru-humpy-2887
- https://www.iloveindia.com/sports/chess/players/koneru-humpy.html
- https://www.chessbase.in/news/Koneru-Humpy-becomes-Women-World-Rapid-Champion
- https://www.rediff.com/sports/2001/aug/30humpy.htm
- https://www.fide.com/index.php?option=com_fidecalendar&view=archiveview&aid=90
- https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic471.html#7
- https://nalchik2010.fide.com/tourview/show-12.html
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/55547052
- https://www.thehindu.com/sport/world-women-chess-harika-wins-silver-bronze-for-humpy/article7153629.ece?textsize=large&test=1