World No. 2 and Andhra chess queen Koneru Humpy proved her mettle yet again by emerging victorious in the maiden Women’s Grand Prix Series in style in Istanbul recently.

And what a remarkable achievement this was for the Vijayawada girl with some of the best chess players in the current women’s circuit entering the fray in the tournament!  For, the tournament included three former world champions. Commendable feat indeed! It was an icing on the cake for the champion chess player, as her achievement came with two astounding wins over two former world champions - Maia Chiburdanidze and Antoaneta Stefanova - in the final rounds.

For obvious reasons, Humpy was thrilled with her achievement.  For a person, who hardly shows her emotions, was quite different this time though. “For me, this was the best ever win in the women’s circuit, especially considering the line-up there,” said Humpy.
Humpy emerged a clear winner in the tournament with a tally of total 8.5 points. The victory fetched her Rs. 4.53 lakhs as prize money and more importantly nine ELO points. Currently she enjoys a rating of 2621.

“The beauty of this win is that it came after the early setback in the third round when I lost to the Chinese girl Hou Yifan,” recalled Humpy, a former world junior champion. The 22-year-old player began with wins in the first two rounds before going down in the third round.

Like a true champion, Humpy came up with gutsy show when the chips were down. “Then (in the third round), I was certainly down. But my father-cum-coach, Koneru Ashok, encouraged me to go for the kill, saying that the loss was not the end of it all. ‘Chances will come your way in the next round and all that you have to do is to seize them’, was what he told me,” Humpy recalled.

Humpy moved into top gear when it mattered most — against Chiburdanidze and Stefanova. She was also very pleased with her crucial final round victory over Marie Sebag of France which eventually won her the title.  “This is a very significant win for me, considering that it has come in an event which had three former world champions,” said Humpy.

“After a good start, I fritted away the advantage with a loss in the crucial third round. It had a bearing on my performance in the tournament. But, by winning the last two games I made up more than for my loss in the third round,” the ONGC deputy manager said.

“The crucial point of the tournament was definitely, the victory over former World champion and World No  4  Antoaneta Stefanova in the 10th round, she said. “That was one of the best wins of the my career and it came at the most appropriate time in the championship,” the top seed added. “I was under tremendous pressure going into the final round, but the confidence of beating Stefanova helped me a lot,” Humpy said.

Koneru Ashok, father-cum-coach of Humpy, said that the Turkey event also happened to be one of the Women Grand Prix series 2009-2010 organised by FIDE and Global Chess BV.

“This Grand Prix comprises six legs in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned to be held in Nanjing (China) at the end of September,” he said. The Grand Prix victory came at a very crucial time of her career for Humpy. This also gave her the much-needed boost to help her focus on her life-time goal of winning the prestigious “World championship title one day”. “But right now, my focus would be on the forthcoming Ruy Lopez championship in Spain in June in which I would be taking part she said. Humpy will also participate in the European circuit later.

The Vijayawada girl made yet another point with her Istambul triumph. As she  reiterated that this victory proved that her father was good enough to help in her preparations and that there was no need for a ‘second’. Humpy is expected to improve her current ELO 2621 by seven more points after her latest success.

Results (Final Round): Marie Sebag (France, 6) lost to Koneru Humpy (India, 8.5); Shen Yang (China, 2.5) drew with Yifan Hao (China, 8); Elina Danielian (Armenia, 8) beat Zhao Xue (China, 7.5); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria, 5) lost to Pia Cramling (Sweden, 5.5); Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia, 5) lost to Martha Bauero Fierro (Ecuador, 5.5); Zeinab Mamedjarova (Azerbizan, 2.5) drew with Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey, 2).

Final standings in the tournament: 1. Humpy 8.5; 2-3. Elina, Yifan 8 each; 4. Zhao 7.5; 5.Marie 6. 6-7. Martha, Pia 5.5 each; 8-9. Antoaneta, Maia 5 each; 10-11. Zeinab, Shen Yang 2.5 each; 12. Betul 2.