India’s new world champion Koneru Humpy said that winning the world title is like a dream come true but she was also surprised to achieve this feat in the rapid format as she has always been a contender in the classical format. Humpy made a grand end of the year 2019 by winning the Rapid Class title at the World Rapid and Blitz tournament in Moscow.
On returning home from Moscow, she told PTI, “This is my first world title. People had long been expecting me to be the world champion and this is really unexpected. I was not a title contender in the rapid tournament. I finished well in the final standings and it went into the tie-break.”
Humpy finished 12th in the Blitz following Rapid’s success. She said that she aims to win the world title in the classical format and she will try to achieve it. She lost to Hou Yifan in the final of the Classical format World Championship in 2011.
Humpy said, “I have always been a contender but never a champion. I came close to it. I will keep trying for this. When I will have to win it, I will be able to win it. Classical world titles have a completely different challenge. You need different skills for different formats. I will continue to do my best to achieve this big goal.”
Humpy won the Women’s Grand Prix in Russia in September and finished joint first in the Monaco Grand Prix. She was the best foreign player in the Chinese League where she remained invincible. Humpy said, ‘Overall I did well in the year (2019) and scored 30 rating points in Classical and about 45 in Rapid.’
