Chess high on year-end as Humpy captures second world rapid title in USA

THERE is a different joy of being a mother. India's Koneru Humpy had won the World Rapid Chess Championship on Saturday but when she spoke about the win a day later, she could not help but speak about her seven-year-old daughter. She was thousands of miles away in Vijayawada. "My daughter won a gold medal in abacus yesterday, so she was having her own moment," Humpy told this daily from New York on Sunday.

- AJAY TOMAR @Hyderabad

For her daughter's win, joy seems to be as big as her second World Rapid medal, a record she shares with China's Ju Wenjun. "I spoke to my daughter just after the win."

The 37-year-old from Vijayawada last won the title in 2019. Sleep-deprived, missing her daughter while playing against some of the stalwarts of the game, yet she remained unflustered and finished the event with 8.5 out of 11 points. The year 2024 was not as she would have liked it to be. There was a time when she was mulling quitting the sport. The win was cathartic.