Unique | ‘Motherhood not a legal responsibility’: How India’s No.1 Koneru Humpy balances chess and household | Chess Information

Koneru Humpy. (Pti photograph)

NEW DELHI: Within the quiet, black-and-white corridors of chessthe place the ticking clock echoes louder than the heartbeat, Koneru Humpy stays seated like an historical banyan tree — rooted, inflexible, and regal.
Behind her stillness stays the tremors of sacrifice as the true championship for India’s top-ranked girl in chess is not at all times over 64 squares.
“I do miss my daughter loads,” she tells TimesofIndia.com throughout an unique interplay. “Our tournaments final 15–20 days, and I journey typically. She enjoys her stick with grandparents when I’m away. In order that approach I am lucky that they are very near her, and he or she will get all the eye which is required.”
Humpy, two-time World Fast Champion, grew to become a chess Grandmaster in 2002 on the age of 15.
At the moment, she was the youngest girl to realize the title, making him no stranger to medals or media glare — the newest one after she was made the model ambassador for SBG’s on-line chess initiative.
Life runs at a speedy tempo if you end up successful, normally. For Humpy, 2014 marked the beginning of a brand new journey — her marriage with Anvesh Dasari. A couple of years later, they have been blessed with a child lady, Ahana.
Her dedication towards her youngster and household stored her away from the sport for a while.
“I nonetheless keep in mind once I gained the 2019 World Fast Championship, I hadn’t been taking part in for almost one and a half years,” Humpy says. “I took a break in 2017 and began taking part in once more round November or December 2018. Once I got here again to chess, follow and preparation have been there, however I had develop into a a lot harder particular person. You understand, elevating a toddler meant sleepless nights. I discovered I am even able to doing the work with out having a correct meals. Earlier, that wasn’t the case — if one thing went fallacious, it could instantly have an effect on my efficiency. However motherhood helped me alter to all of that and made me mentally harder.”
Motherhood, for Humpy, was by no means a distraction as she continues to put on it not like a weight, however like armor.

“I at all times really feel motherhood is a power. It can’t make you sidestep your occupation,” she accepts with a smile.
As a toddler prodigy from Vijayawada, a small metropolis in Andhra Pradesh, Humpy did not have grand academies or coaching companions on name.
What she had was a father taking care of his youngster.
Again then, it was Humpy’s father who would assist a budding chess star — somebody who not often confirmed curiosity in poring over dense books full of opening theories or traditional strikes — as she ready for upcoming tournaments.
“I am not a ebook reader in any respect. I might like to learn on a laptop computer or a tab, however not in books,” she laughs. “Throughout my childhood, my dad used to do all of the preparation — he would get these books, have them copied, and make separate bindings with the strains to play and all that. I used to be by no means into that type of work. It was solely after 2012 that I began getting ready alone. However by then, we have been already used to laptops and software program.”
In a society that usually romanticises maternal sacrifice into silence, here’s a mom, who continues to redefine ambition, by not selecting between motherhood and mastery.
As for her daughter, there isn’t a checkmate path mapped out.
“I by no means wish to pressurise her,” Humpy tells TimesofIndia.com. “For me, it is about letting her do what she enjoys, no matter occupation she needs to pursue — it is fantastic. I simply need her to develop up as a optimistic particular person. That is extra essential to me than which occupation she chooses.”
In a rustic now experiencing a chess renaissance, Koneru Humpy stays an epitome of calmness. “As for staying calm underneath strain, I believe it comes naturally to me. At the same time as a toddler, I used to be like that. Folks typically say they could not inform whether or not I gained or misplaced a recreation as a result of I at all times maintained the identical calm,” she provides.
Behind her calm manner lies a strict routine: “sleep early, get up early, and that helps me keep composed and well-prepared”.
“Throughout tournaments, I want going for walks to get recent air since we spend most of our time indoors. Once I’m at house, I be certain that to go to the fitness center day by day to keep up bodily health. Yoga is nice, in fact, however I personally get pleasure from extra bodily exercise, particularly as a result of we sit for lengthy hours whereas taking part in,” she continues.
The 37-year-old GM readies her bid for the Ladies’s Grand Prix in Pune (April 13-24), Norway Chess (Might 26-June 6), then the World Cup (July 5-29) in Georgia.
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“I believe I undoubtedly want to vary my technique for the World Cup as a result of it is a knockout event. However I will deal with that after I full these two classical occasions—Norway Chess and the Grand Prix. In all probability after Norway, I will begin getting ready particularly for the knockout format. Sure, I must do one thing completely different for that,” says a mom on a mission.
In a world with youngsters studying the Sicilian Defence earlier than the alphabet, Koneru Humpy comes throughout as a pillar, a mom who appears reluctant to make motherhood her excuse.