 Humpy in 2012 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1987-03-31)31 March 1987 (age 38) Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Chess career | |
| Country | India |
| Title | Grandmaster (2002) |
| FIDE rating | 2535 (October 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2623 (July 2009) |
Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indianchessgrandmaster. Humpy is a runner-up of theWomen's World Chess Championship and the reigning two-timeWomen's World Rapid Chess Champion.[1][2] In 2002, she became the youngest female player—and the firstIndian female player—to achieve the title ofGrandmaster, aged 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, a record only since surpassed byHou Yifan.[3][4] Humpy is a gold medalist at theOlympiad,Asian Games, andAsian Championship.[5]
In October 2007, she became the second female player, afterJudit Polgár, to exceed the 2600Elo rating mark, being rated 2606.[6][7]
Humpy won theWomen's World Rapid Chess Championship in2019 and2024.
Koneru Humpy was born in aTelugu family on 31 March 1987 inGudivada,Andhra Pradesh.[8] She was originally named "Hampi" by her parents, Koneru Ashok and Koneru Latha,[9] who derived the name from the word "champion". Her father later changed the spelling to Humpy, to more closely resemble a Russian-sounding name.[10][11] She was coached in chess at a young age by her father Ashok after he discovered her talent when she suggested a move as played out by a game fromThe Chess Informator.
It was 1993, and Humpy was six-years-old then. In the same year, she won theVijayawada city andKrishna district under-eight championships. She won the State-level championships in 1994 and 1995 and qualified for the national under-eight championship for girls inMadurai in 1995, where she finished fourth. From that year, her father started coaching her exclusively. She would then go on to win the national under-10 championship for girls in 1996 inMumbai, which led to a qualification for the 1997 World Under-10 Girls Chess Championship atCannes, France, which she would go on to win.[8]
In August 2014, Humpy married Dasari Anvesh.[12] They have a daughter together named Ahana (b. 2017).[13] Since 2016, Humpy has been working withOil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).[14]
Humpy won three gold medals at theWorld Youth Chess Championship: in 1997 (under-10 girls' division), 1998 (under-12 girls) and 2000 (under-14 girls). In 1999, at the Asian Youth Chess Championship, held inAhmedabad, she won the under-12 section, competing with the boys.[15] In 2001, Humpy won theWorld Junior Girls Championship. In the following year's edition, she tied for first place withZhao Xue, but placed second on tiebreak.[16] She became theeighth woman to earn the Grandmaster title in 2002, and the first Indian female player[17] and the youngest female player to do so. She earned her first GM norm at the Hotel Lipa International in June 2001. Her second GM norm was at the 3rd Saturday GM tournament, which she won, in October 2001. She made her final GM norm in the Elekes Memorial, also tying for first place.[18] Humpy competed with the boys in the 2004 World Junior Championship, which was won byPentala Harikrishna and tied for fifth place, finishing tenth on countback with a score of 8.5/13 points.[19]
Humpy won theBritish Women's Championship in 2000 and in 2002. In 2003, she won the 10thAsian Women's Individual Championship and theIndian Women's Championship.[20][21] In 2005, she won the North Urals Cup, around-robin tournament held inKrasnoturyinsk, Russia featuring ten of the strongest female players in the world at the time.[22]
She participated in theWomen's World Chess Championship for the first time in2004 and since then, she has competed in every edition of the event held with theknockout format. Humpy reached the semifinals in 2004,2008 and2010.
In 2009, she tied for 1st–4th withAlexander Areshchenko,Magesh Panchanathan andEvgenij Miroshnichenko in theMumbai Mayor Cup.[23]
In 2009, Humpy accused theAll India Chess Federation of preventing her from participating in the37th Chess Olympiad inTurin.[24][25] Her father Koneru Ashok, who was coaching her, was not allowed to travel with her for tournaments.
Humpy took part in theFIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–2011 and finished in overall second position, in turn qualifying as challenger forWomen's World Chess Championship 2011.[26][27] Hou Yifan won the match, winning three games and drawing five. She finished runner-up in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series also in the2011–12,2013–14,2015–16 and2019–21 editions.
She won the individual bronze at the Women'sWorld Team Chess Championship 2015 held inChengdu, China. Team India finished fourth in the competition – a point behind China, which won the bronze medal.[28]
In December 2019, Humpy won theWomen's World Rapid Chess Championship 2019 after coming back from a two-year maternity sabbatical.[29]
In 2020, she won the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the year award, following a public vote.[30]
She also competed at the 2022 Chess Olympiad as part of the women's India team, which achieved a bronze medal.[31]
In 2023, she was the runner up in the World Rapid championships.[32]
In December 2024, Humpy won theWomen's World Rapid Chess Championship 2024 became theWomen's World Rapid Chess Champion for the second time in her career.[33]
In July 2025, she defeatedLei Tingjie by 5-3 in the semifinals of the2025 FIDE Women's World Cup to set up an All-Indian summit clash with 19 year old compatriotDivya Deshmukh. Her victory came after two draws in the classical format and a come from behind victory in the tiebreaks by winning three consecutive games after being down 2-3. In the final, she lost during tiebreaks, drawing the first game and losing the second, finishing in second place. Through winning her semifinal she automatically qualified to theWomen's Candidates Tournament 2026.[34][35][36]
| S.No | Year | Date | Venue | Points (Win/draw/loss) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009 | 7–19 March 2009 | Istanbul,Turkey | 8.5/11 (+7=3-1) |  Gold |
| 2 | 2010 | 30 July – 11 August 2010 | Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia | 6.5/11 |  Bronze |
| 3 | 2011 | 23 February – 5 March 2011 | Doha,Qatar | 8/11 (+6=4-1) | Gold |
| 4 | 2012 | 10–21 June 2012 | Kazan,Russia | 7.5/11 (+4 =7 –0) | Gold |
| 5 | 2012 | 16–28 September 2012 | Ankara,Turkey | 8.5/11 (+7 =3 –1) | Gold |
| 6 | 2013 | June 15 – 29 June 2013 | Dilijan,Armenia | 8/11 (+5=6–0) | Gold |
| 7 | 2013 | 17 September – 1 October 2013 | Tashkent,Uzbekistan | 8/11 (+6=4–1) | Gold |
| 8 | 2015 | 2–16 October 2015 | Monte Carlo,Monaco | 7/11 | Bronze |
| 9 | 2016 | 1–15 July 2016 | Chengdu,China | 7/11 (+5=4-2) |  Silver |
| 10 | 2019 | 10–23 September 2019 | Skolkovo,Russia | 8/11 (+5=6-0) | Gold |
| 11 | 2019 | 2–15 December 2019 | Monaco | 7/11 (+4=6-1) | Gold - Shared 1st Place |
| 12 | 2023 | 1–14 February 2023 | Munich,Germany | 7/11 (+3=8-0) | Silver |
%2c_at_an_Investiture_Ceremony_at_Rashtrapati_Bhavan_in_New_Delhi_on_March_23%2c_2007.jpg)
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Women's Asian Chess Champion 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Men's individual rapid | |
|---|---|
| Women's individual rapid | |
| Men's team classical | |
| Women's team classical | |
| Mixed team classical | |
