Koneru Humpy ‘shaken but not stirred’ by a loss against Kosintseva

Elista (Kalmykia): Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, after three exhaustive rounds, is relaxed and prepared for Saturday’s quarter-final match against World Cup champion Xu Yuhua of China.

After a gruelling six days of chess, which witnessed the ouster of 56 players out of 64 in the fray in the first three rounds, the players have finally got the first of the two rest days.

But none appeared interested in taking the excursion tour of the city as was arranged by the organisers.

Last night Humpy struck back with vengeance after losing the second game of the pre-quarter finals against Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia and won both the rapid games to seal her quarter-final berth (as reported in Friday’s Late City edition).

The Indian confessed she was “shaken but not stirred” by the forgettable loss that forced her into a tie-breaker.

Having lost the second game under normal time control, Humpy had blown away her one-point lead but with a double victory again under rapid chess rules, the Indian proved that she is made of sterner stuff.

It was a contest of nerves as Humpy survived some anxious moments in the second game. It was an irregular queen-pawn game yet again as white gave Humpy what looked like an easy victory in the end.

In the middle-game, Humpy had to sacrifice a pawn to get her own queen-side pawn rolling. Kosintseva fell for the bait when she went for a dubious trade that left her pieces scattered. Humpy won after picking a piece in a tactical skirmish.

So far, so good, but now comes the big battle for Humpy against Xu Yuhua who had beaten her in the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup in Hyderabad and went on to win the title.

The supremacy of the Chinese in women’s chess is well established and so far in the new millennium they have had two world champions in Xie Jun and Zhu Chen.

However, this time, both players have opted out owing to personal reasons while six others have been ousted so far. In fact, Humpy and Xu are the only two Asians left in the competition.

The quarter-final line-up is quite interesting. Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania and Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria will lock horns with two strong Georgians — former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Dzagnidze.

The other match will be played between Russian Ekaterina Kovalevskaya and Georgian turned German Ketino Kachiani-g.

If Humpy wins the next round she gets a relatively easier opposition in the semis as the winner between Kovalevskaya and Kachiani will earn the right to play her.

The event thus far has seen many stars fall and topping the list is high-profile trio of Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk who was ousted in the second round, Ukrainian 14-years-old Kateryna Lahno and German Elisabeth Paehtz.

There are two games in each round in the championship except the finals which is a four-game affair. The winner takes home $60,000.

Humpy has been drawing a lot of attention here and the media is interested in her personal life as well, her tender age notwithstanding.

She came up with a stunning reply when asked whether she had a boyfriend. “I came here with my father, who is my coach. I do not have a boyfriend, it is not allowed in India.”

Humpy even had to describe how she developed her interest in chess. “Almost all my family members play chess. My father taught me the game, and he was taught by my grandfather. I think my future will be connected with professional chess, because I am interested in chess and I like it.”

Quarter-final pairings

Koneru Humpy (Ind) vs Xu Yuhua (Chn); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) vs Nana Dzagnidze (Geo); Maia Chiburdanidze (Geo) vs Viktorija Cmilyte (Ltu); Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus) vs Ketino Kachianig. (Ger).