Chess Grandmaster (GM) Koneru Humpy became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the World Blitz Championships on December 30, taking silver in Almaty. After 17 rounds in the women’s section, the 35-year-old finished with 12.5 points, half a point behind the winner, Bibisara Asaubayeva of Kazakhstan. Magnus Carlsen, the world number one, won gold in the open event.
Youngest woman to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2002
Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess player who won the FIDE Women’s Rapid Chess Championship in 2019. At the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) in 2002, breaking Judit Polgár’s previous record by three months (this record was subsequently broken by Hou Yifan in 2008). Humpy became the second female player, after Polgár, to surpass the 2600 Elo rating mark in October 2007, with a rating of 2606.
Humpy won three World Youth Chess Championship gold medals: in 1997 (under-10 girls’ division), 1998 (under-12 girls’ division), and 2000. (under-14 girls). In 1999, she won the under-12 section of the Asian Youth Chess Championship, which was held in Ahmedabad. Humpy won the World Junior Girls Championship in 2001. She tied for first place with Zhao Xue in the following year’s edition, but finished second on tiebreak. [6] In 2002, she became the eighth female Grandmaster. Humpy competed in the 2004 World Junior Championship with the boys, which was won by Pentala Harikrishna. He tied for fifth place and finished tenth on countback with a score of 8.5/13 points.
In the Mumbai Mayor Cup in 2009, she finished first-fourth with Alexander Areshchenko, Magesh Panchanathan, and Evgenij Miroshnichenko.
Humpy won the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award in 2020 after a public vote.
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