I don’t accept defeats, want to prove to myself that I am the best: Koneru Humpy

Defeats are an integral part of life but “not accepting” them and wanting to “prove” oneself time and again is the mantra that has kept the competitive fire in two-time women’s world rapid chess champion Koneru Humpy glowing for more than two decades. As one who has continued to evolve and excel over the years, Humpy, who became the first Indian female player to achieve the Grandmaster title aged 15, is now aiming to shore up her Classical rating to be in contention for the Women’s Candidates.

Qualification for the next World Championships too is on her bucket list, though she is not making any promises.

“Not accepting defeat and wanting to prove yourself that you are the best... so, I think that's what keeps me going. I think somewhere, it’s always about the fighting spirit,” Humpy, the reigning World Rapid champion and a member of the Olympiad gold-winning Indian side, told PTI on the sidelines of Norway Chess here.

True to her nature, Humpy, 38, is mindful of the fact that she had an underwhelming last year in Norway Chess, but that is the motivation for her to beat the elite field here. She is leading the six-player double round-robin Norway Chess tournament with 8.5 points at the halfway mark and could become the first Indian to win the title.

“So, I just wanted to do better here (this time) and fight for the best because last year I had a disastrous tournament and I lost a lot of rating points here,” she said.

One of Humpy’s objectives this season, besides winning Norway Chess, is to improve her Classical rating, which has dropped substantially, partly due to staying away from some major tournaments because of family commitments.

“Yeah (my goal is to improve my Classical rating), because last year I lost my rating heavily and I dropped down in the world rankings as well. However, very recently, with my past two Grand Prix performances, I have regained my rating back.

“But still, I want to improve my rating further, and I think this tournament (Norway Chess) is one such opportunity to do so,” added Humpy.

She has found a way to balance chess and family, taking short breaks to recover and work on her game.

In fact, when I lose, I don't sign up quickly (for a tournament). I do take time to recover from that and work more on that (game). But, nowadays, even the organisers are quite smart enough that they are planning quite ahead. So, we are committed by that time. Yeah, sometimes it's very hard to come back from those losses also,” the two-time Asian Games gold medallist conceded. Being a mother and a player is not easy and Humpy says the youngsters do have an advantage there, but she would rather savour time with her family in a relaxed atmosphere than compete in tournaments one after the other.

“It's not that easy. I do have a family, a kid at home. So, once I go back home, I'm completely relaxed and I'm out of the chess world. Sometimes, I do desperately want to take a break so that I can spend more time with my kid.

But this season, I'm having a lot of tournaments. After this (Norway Chess), I'm also playing in the USA in the Cairns Cup (a round-robin tournament for women’s players). But, generally speaking, I always prefer to just play a single tournament and go back home, spend time with my family and have a one-month break and then take part in another one.” However, Koneru Humpy does not really miss the game while on a break, enjoying her time with the family. But she adds that her father Koneru Ashok, her mentor, still has the same passion for the sport.

No, not really (I don’t miss the sport at home). We always have a fun discussion at home. (But) my dad sees chess every day from morning till evening. For him, playing online chess is a routine. For me, being a professional, sometimes I don't even see chess for a few weeks. I enjoy it when I'm playing but when it's not, I completely switch-off.”

Humpy could become a strong contender for the Women’s Candidates spot, and then hopefully qualify for the World Championships. But she is not thinking too much about it. Actually, it would be nice to qualify for the Candidates again,” the former World Championship runner-up said. For now, it's quite a challenging task for me because I already missed out on the Grand Prix standings. So, I had to either enter in the World Cup Grand Prix or the Leaderboard. Leaderboards are quite complicated stuff,” she added.

Leaderboards display player rankings across various game types and areas, including Bullet, Rapid, Blitz, Daily, all variants, tournaments, and Puzzle Rush. You don't know until the last moment (whether you will qualify for the Candidates or not). It's quite challenging for me, but definitely I'll try. I'll try to take part in those (tournaments) and try to give my best.” To improve her chances of qualifying for the Candidates, she is now watching more videos on the internet and solving puzzles.

“I think I already spoke about it after the World Rapid (title in New York last year). I very recently started seeing more chess videos on the internet, and also solving puzzles on an everyday basis.

“It was not my routine before but now I started doing that quite often. It was challenging initially but once I got used to it, I started enjoying it even more than the regular stuff. So, change is good sometimes,” she signed off.