Express News Service
Koneru Humpy is one of India’s finest players and will be leading the country’s bid for its first Olympiad gold. Playing only her fourth Olympiad since 2004, Humpy holds the key to India’s fortunes. She is confident that India will live up to its top billing and bag a medal.
In an exclusive chat with this newspaper, Humpy talks about how Viswanathan Anand would excel even as an administrator if elected as the vice-president of FIDE and more. Excerpts:
How excited are you that India is hosting the Olympiad?
It’s very exciting to play the Olympiad in Mahabalipuram. This is the first time that India is hosting and the Tamil Nadu government has shown a huge interest in promoting the sport and supporting it. I feel honoured to play here and am overwhelmed with response from the chess bands.
Being a top seed in the women’s section, how do you think India will fare?
This is also the first time to be a top seed in a chess Olympiad as Russia and China are not playing. Coming to our medal chances, I really don’t believe in the numbering, like depending on the seeding. There is no guarantee that players will perform as per their seedings. Yes, we definitely have a very good chance but it all depends on how players play in critical matches. I believe that from Round 4 or 5 we will be meeting stronger teams. Towards Round 8 or 9, we’ll have a clearer picture about how the team will be performing. We have a good chance, but it all depends on how we perform and how we stay focussed.
How was the experience of working with V Anand and Boris Gelfand at Olympiad camp?
My experience in the Gelfand camp was very nice. We had a one day session with Anand and he gave very insightful suggestions about handling the positions in bad situations and talked about the psychological part like how our mind works when we are down and all.
Coming to Gelfand, he shared all his personal experiences. At the same time we had opportunities to have interactions with other team-members as well. I think that really helped to have the team spirit going in the event.
FIDE has changed the women’s Candidates format. Your take.
Well yes, the Candidates format has been changed from double round robin to knockout system, though it was already decided by FIDE I don’t want to comment on this anymore.
On D Gukesh touching 2700 in the live ratings?.
Gukesh reaching 2700 is not at all surprising. I have seen him for the first time in 2019. I saw him while interacting with his father. He was a very obedient, self disciplined and hardworking person. Though I did not have much of a personal conversation with him, by observing him I understood that he’s very determined to reach greater heights. I do expect him to win many more super-level Grandmaster tournaments in the coming future. So from our country Gukesh, Arjun, Nihal, Praggu are the next generation talents which will be seen in the top ranks in the coming future.
Do you think not playing in OTB events for a long time will impact your game at the Olympiad?
Well, considering I did not play many on-board events for the past two years, it’s a bit of a drawback. But I think I’ll be able to manage and am confident of doing well because I’ve been playing online chess. And recently I played this women’s speed championship and I was in touch with the game. Maybe I might struggle for one or two games but I expect to be in good shape.
R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni will be making their debut. On team composition.
I’m happy with the composition of the `A’ team and the selection was done by the All India Chess Federation based on their rankings. And as we can see on the 3rd board, Vaishali is performing fantastically in the past one year, she has improved a lot as a player and she’s also under the guidance of Anand sir and his academy. I think we couldn’t ask for a better team than this.
Besides India, which teams do you think will fight for the top spots?
Coming to the women’s section I think since there are no Russian or Chinese teams, the next strongest teams will be Ukraine, Poland, America, Georgia. In fact, Georgia is one of the leading women’s teams which won many gold medals in the Olympiad and also in the world team events, so their women’s team is especially very strong.
Will the Olympiad in Chennai help the game grow?
Definitely. Hosting an Olympiad in Chennai is a big boost for Indian chess. Today we could see the whole bridge was designed with the chess board and even the anthem was sung by our legend AR Rahman and launched by Rajinikanth sir. So all these things will definitely motivate many youngsters to take up the sport. I think if we (India) can manage to win a medal in either of the groups that will have a bigger impact on the youngsters.
Anand recently said more needs to be done for women chess at the global level. Your take.
Men always have this special category. Apart from the official FIDE Grand Prix and Candidates, invitation tournaments for men are being held everywhere in the world. But for women, we don’t have such tournaments. We used to have at some point of time but then there was no Grand Prix. Later when the Grand Prix was introduced these invitation tournaments were not happening anymore, so I think these kinds of tournaments have to take place to show more professionalism in women chess.
Anand is contesting for FIDE vice-president, your view?
Definitely. I wish Anand to become a vice-president and I am sure that even as a vice-president of FIDE, he will be able to be as successful and I really look forward to the great moment, for an Indian to be in the FIDE delegation.
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