Koneru Humpy wins Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019

India's chess sensation Koneru Humpy has won Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019. Humpy drew her highly anticipated final round game against the reigning Women's World Champion Wenjun Ju. The India no.1 finished at 8.0/11, half point ahead of the runner-up Ju Wenjun 7.5/11.

Humpy has picked the first leg of FIDE Women's Grand Prix and this is her first major tournament victory since her return to competitive tournament in Batumi Olympiad 2018 last year. The next one is at Monaco from 2nd-15th December where Humpy will be seen in action.

Koneru, 31 is a native of Gudivada in Andhra Pradesh. In October 2007, she became the second female player, after Judit Polgár, to exceed the 2600 Elo rating mark, being rated 2606.

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As a former chess player himself, her father Koneru Ashok introduced her to chess when she turned five. Her father used to tell her about the Polgar sisters Susan, Judith and Sophie – some of the top chess players in the world. And she came close to their record.

HER MILESTONES

In 1998 Humpy participated in the world under-10 competition and won the gold medal. In 1999, at the Asian Youth Chess Championship, held in Ahmedabad, she won the under-12 section, competing with the boys.

In 2002, Koneru became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of grandmaster (not solely a Woman Grandmaster) at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgár's previous mark by three months. This record was subsequently broken by Hou Yifan in 2008.

Humpy has picked the first leg of FIDE Women's Grand Prix and this is her first major tournament victory since her return to competitive tournament in Batumi Olympiad 2018 last year.

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In 2000, she again picked a gold in the WYCC under-12 category. Koneru Humpy won the World Junior Girls Championship in 2001 and became the youngest woman to obtain an International Grandmaster norm and held the record for four years.