Koneru Humpy made a confident opening move in her campaign for the Women’s World Chess Championship of 2015, winning the FIDE Grand Prix at Dilijan, Armenia, recently.
The Grand Prix is a cycle of six tournaments for the world’s top 18 woman players, who could play in four of them. The woman with the highest score at the end of the series will face the winner of the 2014 World Championship.
Dilijan was the second of the 2013-14 Grand Prix series, but it was Humpy’s first. The 26-year-old from Vijayawada was the top seed in a very strong field that contained the likes of reigning World champion Anna Uterine (Ukraine) and former champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Humpy, however, faced the stiffest challenge from Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia), the second seed, who too justified her billing by finishing runner-up along with Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), seeded third.
Humpy scored eight points from five wins — the most in the field — and six draws. Her most crucial victory came against Muzychuk in the sixth round.
Humpy also became richer by euros 10,000.The final standings: 1. Koneru Humpy (India) 8 points; 2-3. Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) & Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) 7; 4. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia) 6; 5. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) 5.5; 6-8. Anotoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), Tuvshintugs Batchimeg (Mongolia) & D. Harika (India) 5; 9-11. Olga Girya (Russia), Victorija Cmylite (Lithuania) & Elina Danielian (Armenia) 4.5; 12. Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia) 4.
P. K. Ajith Kumar
Comments
SHARE