On the path to super-grandmasterdom: India's Koneru Humpy
15.07.2007
– At 20 Koneru Humpy is the second-highest ranked female player (after Judit Polgar) in the FIDE rating lists. In 2002 she set a world record by becoming the youngest-ever woman to earn the men's GM title, at the age of 15 years, 1 month and 27 days. Now she has won the Kaupthing GM Open, which pushes her rating to 2600. Will she be the second female Super-GM in history?
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Nigel Davies:
A busy person’s opening system
Players with interests and commitments away from the chess board often find it difficult to compete against those with more study time. Their opponents come to the board armed with the latest theory and can bash out moves well into the middle game. On this DVD Nigel Davies addresses this issue by demonstrating a simple and easy to learn opening system designed for the busy person.
More information...
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Koneru Humpy wins Kaupthing GM Open
Report by Vijay Kumar
Differdange, a sleepy township south west of Luxembourg, known as the city
of Steel, organized its first ever International Chess meet to mark 100 years
of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s third largest Township and 75 years
of Chess Club Le Cavalier.
Altogether 177 chess players from all over the world graced the championship,
played as an Open Meet. A number of Grandmasters like Koneru Humpy, Antoaneta
Stefanova, Vadim Malakatko, Petr Velicka, Viktor Erdos Tigran Gharamian, Kritz
Leonid, Inna Goponenko and the oldest Grandmaster from Czech Republic, Vlastimil
Jansa, were there to compete for the 3000 Euro first prize.
The winner of Kaupthing: Indian GM Koneru Humpy
Equal first, second on tiebreak: GM Hannes Stefansson
At the end of the eighth round there were six players who staked their claim
for the Trophy. After a strong battle Koneru Humpy was able to beat Sebastia
Siebrecht in the final round, played on Saturday, and lift the coveted trophy.
Final standings (6.0/9 or higher)
| No. |
Player |
Rtng |
Pts |
TB1 |
TB2 |
| 1. |
Koneru,Humpy |
2572 |
7.0 |
36.5 |
49.5 |
| 2. |
Stefansson,Hannes |
2568 |
7.0 |
33.0 |
46.5 |
| 3. |
Erdos,Viktor |
2523 |
6.5 |
36.0 |
50.5 |
| 4. |
Gharamian,Tigran |
2517 |
6.5 |
35.0 |
51.0 |
| 5. |
Kritz,Leonid |
2571 |
6.5 |
33.0 |
50.5 |
| 6. |
Steingrimsson,Hed |
2470 |
6.5 |
32.5 |
44.0 |
| 7. |
Feller,Sebastien |
2478 |
6.5 |
32.0 |
45.5 |
| 8. |
Velicka,Petr |
2507 |
6.0 |
35.0 |
53.5 |
| 9. |
Hoffmann,Michael |
2481 |
6.0 |
33.5 |
47.0 |
| 10. |
Siebrecht,Sebasti |
2431 |
6.0 |
33.0 |
51.5 |
| 11. |
Bojkov,Dejan |
2520 |
6.0 |
32.0 |
49.0 |
| 12. |
Schlosser,Philipp |
2562 |
6.0 |
32.0 |
45.5 |
| 13. |
Meijers,Viesturs |
2483 |
6.0 |
31.5 |
48.5 |
| 14. |
Stefanova,Antoaneta |
2481 |
6.0 |
30.0 |
43.0 |
| 15. |
Valuet,Bertrand |
2303 |
6.0 |
28.5 |
39.0 |
| 16. |
Van Dooren,Dirk |
2331 |
6.0 |
27.0 |
45.0 |
The joint winners of Kaupthing: Hannes Stefansson and Koneru Humpy
According to our tentative calculations (we don't have all the games) Humpy
could be very close to breaking the 2600 barrier. That would make her the second
female player in history to achieve this. Here are the current top ten women:
FIDE July 2007 rankings
| Rnk |
Name |
Title |
Country |
Rating |
| 1 |
Polgar,
Judit |
g |
HUN |
2707 |
| 2 |
Koneru,
Humpy |
g |
IND |
2572 |
| 3 |
Cramling,
Pia |
g |
SWE |
2533 |
| 4 |
Hou,
Yifan |
wg |
CHN |
2523 |
| 5 |
Zhu,
Chen |
g |
QAT |
2522 |
| 6 |
Kosteniuk,
Alexandra |
g |
RUS |
2515 |
| 7 |
Kosintseva,
Tatiana |
m |
RUS |
2502 |
| 8 |
Ushenina,
Anna |
m |
UKR |
2502 |
| 9 |
Zhao,
Xue |
wg |
CHN |
2500 |
| 10 |
Chiburdanidze,
Maia |
g |
GEO |
2496 |
Picture gallery
Reflections: the Old City of Differdange and the Alzette River
Luxemberg Cathederal
A new super-GM in the making: Koneru Humpy
14th: GM Antoaneta Stefanova
WGM Turkan Mamedyarova (sister of the great Shakhriyar)
WGM Anna Wagener of Luxembourg
GM Vastimil Jansa of the Czech Republic
GM Viesturs Meijers vs GM Koneru Humpy
GM Vadim Malakhatko vs IM Anthony Wirig (with the remarkable hairstyle)
Three tufts of hair to intimidate opponents: French IM Anthony Wirig
Our man in Differdange: Vijay Kumar, Indian TV producer and reporter
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