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 Women Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, who did the country proud by winning the Lipa Grandmasters chess tournament at Hungary last month, has emerged as one of the top ten
Junior Women in the world with an Elo rating of 2387, according to the rating announced by the 'FIDE' (World Chess Federation). Disclosing this to newsmen here on Friday night, Humpy's father and coach Koneru Ashok said, the teenage prodigy was 10 points short of the country's first women Grandmaster Vijayalakshmi of Chennai with an Elo rating of 2397.
Humpy, who is vigorously preparing for the World Junior Chess championship
at Athens, Greece next month, wanted to become number one in the country
among women in the next six months, he said. Ashok said he was now concentrating on improving the middle game to win the world junior championship in which at least four women grandmasters were likely to take part he was also coaching Humpy on new opening, he added. Ashok said he was chalking out a five-year strategy to prepare Humpy for the world senior women championship title.
The sponsorship offered by Bank of Baroda had lapsed in March and he was looking forward to get a sponsorship of at least Rs.10 lakhs for this year so that she could participate in more tournaments abroad. Krishna District Olympics Association secretary K P Rao said the government was considering to amend the Sports policy to include the game of chess, so that a special package, including a Prime land at Vijayawada and a suitable cash prize, could be announced for Humpy soon after the local body elections.
The present Sports policy provided for encouragement of those games included in the
Olympics, it may be noted. The teenage girl, by lifting the title in the hotel Lipa tournament in which seven grandmasters took part, achieved her maiden grandmaster norm and the second International Masters norm, she
claimed up to eighth position in the world Junior Women ranking. Last month, she also achieved her third
Women Grandmaster norm and with that WGM title at Budapest, Hungary,
she joined the country's women Grandmaster (WGM) club along with
Vijayalakshmi.
A student of the Chalapathi Residential School, Guntur, she got the first WGM norm by virtue of her outright win the Asian Junior girls chess championship at Mumbai last year and the second WGM norm in the Oakham Grandmaster tournament in England in April this year. The girl got the first National title in 1995 when she won the under-8 at Madurai and the under-9 National girls championship at Mumbai, the next year, thus qualifying for the world under-10 championship at Cannes, France, held in 1997.
Her international achievements so far include the gold medal in the Commonwealth Chess Championship (under -18 girls) 1999. She became Asia's youngest woman international at the age of 12 and also became the youngest British ladies champion, breaking the 61-year-old record in the name of Elaine Saunder, last year.
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