9/23/2019 – Humpy won the Skolkovo leg of FIDE's 2019 Women's Grand Prix by making a draw in the final round against reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. The Indian ace won her first major championship since returning to competitive chess in the Batumi Olympiad of 2018. Humpy finished at 8.0/11, gained 160 Grand Prix points and received EUR €15,000 for winning the tournament. Humpy, who is currently world number 3 among women by rating, behind Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun, has just about every accomplishment in her bag except the World Championship title. | Photo: David Llada / FIDE
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
The Ragozin is being played by every top grandmaster in the world - it is time you also add it to your repertoire to get interesting and dynamic positions against 1. d4! GM Alejandro Ramirez analyses every single move that White can play once the Ragozin is reached, but due to several transpositional possibilities he always emphasises strategic goals to keep in mind.
The Big Database 2025 contains more than 11 million games from 1475 to 2024.
€99.90
Humpy superb at Skolkovo
Humpy went for Ragozin Defence in QGD against Ju Wenjun in the final round. In a battle between world no.2 and 3 in women's chess, neither got the better of the other. In the end Ju Wenjun had to settle for a perpetual check in a queen ending and it was a draw after 35 moves.
The third part of the endgame series tackles queen endings, rook against minor pieces, queen against rook and queen against two rooks. Queen endings are not nearly as mysterious as they appear at first sight. Knowing a few rules of thumb and principles will make things very much easier for you. Over 7 hours video training.
Humpy moved her queen to c3 attacking the bishop on d3. Now Ju Wenjun could have played 26...♝b5 and kept the game going. Instead, she played 26...♛xa3!? Now Humpy played 27.♕xd3 and it was met with 27...a4. Was White in trouble?
What did Humpy play that ensured a draw for her?
28.♕a6! A powerful move stopping axb3 and also threatening Qc8-f5 perpetual.
Ju Wenjun decided to continue the fight with 28...♚h7 rather than taking the knight on b3. What did Humpy do here to draw the game?
29.♘c5! was a strong move sacrificing the knight and making sure that the game ends in a draw!
After Humpy won the tournament, WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili interviewed her.
Humpy talks about making a comeback, motherhood and more | Video: Keti Tsatsalashvili
Here is a transcript of the interview:
Keti Tsatsalashvili: Congratulations on your victory. How does it feel to win the Skolkovo Grand Prix?
Koneru Humpy: Thank you. I am feeling very happy because it's been a long time since I won a tournament, that too after a break. Winning such a strong tournament feels good.
KT: Which is your favourite game in this particular tournament and why?
KH: I can't say it's my favourite but I can say it was a crucial win for me. It was the ninth round game against Gunina. That win gave me the opportunity to take the lead in the tournament and I think it's a very interesting game.
It was back in the 1920s that the Russian master Benjamin Blumenfeld invented his famous gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5!?, and to the present day the opening retains great popularity. Black plays for the initiative and the win from the word go.
KT: Your last competitive game was in 2016, then you came back in October 2018. A break of two years. How difficult was it to come back to the chess board?
KH: Well yeah, I took a break for two years. I suppose it was very difficult when I played Olympiad and knockout World Championship. Of course the results also speak out like I lost in the second round itself in the World Championship. I struggled for few tournaments but I think from this January, I was a bit stable. In the recent times, I played the Chinese league, I did well there. So yeah, I can say that after my comeback this has been the biggest victory.
KT: You are a mother of two-year-old daughter. So how does it feel to be a mother?
KH: Well I enjoy a lot. I try to spend a lot of time with her. She just started speaking, like understanding everything slowly. So we are having good time.
KT: Does your daughter understand that she has a strong chess playing mother?
KH: No no she doesn't know (laughs). Sometimes I try to explain her, I show her all the trophies and tell her that those all belong to me and I won, but she doesn't agree with me. She says, those all belong to her grandfather. She just knows that I play chess, that's it. Even when I am doing something else, she will just come and say, mom play chess, something like this in our mother tongue. So chess has become a routine word for her!
KT: Have you talked to your husband and your daughter after the victory at this tournament?
KH: Yeah of course. My daughter doesn't understand anything, that I won or something. She just knows that I will be coming home soon. So she is happy for that. My husband is very happy that I won the tournament.
KT: Usually having a kid means that your life has changed and your chess career changes too. Before Judit Polgar showed us that she could combine these two, so how do you think about this, having a kid and a chess career?
KH: Of course it's not so easy when you have a kid and family but it's not that when you have a kid, you have to lose your profession. You can still do whatever you wish. It's about a person's individual choice and also you need to balance both of these. Probably you will not get most of the time for professional career like earlier days, but I think it's still manageable. Balance is much more important here.
Humpy with her daughter Ahana and husband Anvesh
KT: What is your opinion about India's women chess?
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
KH: Indian women chess is growing slowly. Now we have few talented young girls at 2400 level. I hope we have more grandmasters in Indian women chess in the days to come.
India top 15 has five players who are under-20
KT: Does the dream of being the world champion still motivate you?
KH: Yes of course. I think without motivation, you can't succeed. When I came back to chess, my motivation was just to play some good games and to be in world rankings and not to drop down, to sustain the rankings. I think I managed to do that, and I am slowly improving. There will be step-by-step something to aim for.
KT: Thank you very much and once again congratulations.
KH: Thank you.
All Prize winners | Photo: David Llada / FIDE
Final Standings
FIDE Grand Prix 2019-20 Standings
Standings after the first of four events (each player must participate in three)
At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com
Shahid AhmedShahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.
Congrats Humpy! You have made India proud again......
macauley 9/23/2019 09:11
Noted
mrstillwater 9/23/2019 05:48
Just to note a slight error in the introduction - she isn't number 3 in the world, she's number 3 on the women's ranking list. The two are obviously quite different.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
€21.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.