“Sometimes I do think about [her daughter] during the event but it’s very important to stay focused and sometimes I don’t even talk with her so that I don’t get emotionally weak. It’s tough being so but if you want to become a world champion and to prove yourself, you need to do [it].”
Koneru Humpy has proven herself, multiple times over, knows exactly what toll it takes… and yet she keeps pushing herself more. The reigning World Champion in women’s rapid chess, Humpy won her second title in December 2024, five years after her first. That World title, in 2019, had been won just two years after the birth of her daughter, Ahana. But for Humpy — who was the then youngest ever woman to become Grandmaster, at the age of 15 — pushing herself to the limits is just a way of life.
Balancing a remarkably successful playing career (bettered only by Viswanathan Anand in Indian chess — and if you believe classical is the highest form of the sport — D Gukesh) and motherhood, without either becoming the defining feature of her personality is just part of that.
“I think girls are fighters,” Humpy tells ESPN. “Women especially are very good at multitasking,” something she doesn’t believe is a man’s forte.
She says it with a laugh, but there’s an essential truth to the sweeping statement – in most cases, the responsibility and mental labour of childrearing falls to the mother and to do that while working professional takes some multitasking. To do it while becoming a two-time world champion? Well, it takes oodles of fighting spirit.
For instance, her Worlds triumph in New York. “When I went for the tournament, my ambition was to be in the top three,” she says. “When I lost the first game I was upset, but there was no time to even think about that before the next match. I didn’t sleep properly. But I was very much determined to do well… I just wanted to play my best, give the toughest fight I could. I think that attitude had helped me win it.”
After finishing runner-up in the women’s division at the 2024 Candidates, this was a win that validated her decision to keep fighting. “The whole year I’ve been suffering a lot in the tournaments,” she says. “There are times even when I thought maybe it’s not working out, maybe I should quit from the profession. This win has motivated me again…” and it’s reminded her of the “joy in the sport.”
37-year-old Humpy’s been at it for three decades now, and she’s still seeing off fresh challenges every day. More than just regular sporting and societal standards, her own changing physiology, emotional turmoil, and an intrinsic, powerful sense of ‘mom guilt’.
She shares a story about how she missed her daughter’s birthday due to a cancelled flight post-tournament, and she has not been completely forgiven for that. “I only reached at midnight, so she still remembers that I wasn’t there… now I always make sure that I stay at home during her birthday.”
For Humpy, these are challenges to be taken in stride. She’s been brought up in a way that made her capable of handling whatever in thrown her way. “My parents used to say that these things [like menstruating] shouldn’t bother you at all like, it’s not a weakness. If you start thinking like those five days [of periods] are difficult, then you’ll have that inner feeling. But if you take that as any other normal day, even though you might be having some irregularities, you won’t feel that stress and you’ll be strong enough to face it.”
“So those things never bothered me actually as a child. I got my first periods when I was playing my international tournament and my mother was not with me, but before going to the event itself she taught me how to wear the sanitary pad. I was hardly 10 years old then and I was traveling with my father, but it didn’t scare me. I was, probably, mentally prepared for that thanks to their upbringing.”
In that lies a secret: family support. “I believe like family support is really important for women, without that it’s impossible to achieve. I keep telling my husband, if I had to leave our daughter to a nanny then I wouldn’t have continued my career. You feel comfortable and confident when your child is with the grandparents.”
She continues to train with her father, who “practices like a professional, even while I take days off” and continues to up the intensity of that training.
“When you are 30s you lose your sharpness basically,” she says. “As a teenager you would react to certain positions very sharply, very tactically. But after [your] 30s you have a laziness to calculate accurately. So, I think that’s where sometimes even I fail at certain points. Probably that is the area which needs to be worked very carefully.”
And it’s not technical training. “Of course, physically also you need to stay fit, you shouldn’t neglect your health. And that’s most important because being a woman you will be having certain health issues after childbirth. You will be going through some things, but you also need to prioritize health.”
One of India’s sporting greats, Humpy has no plans of stopping anytime soon. And in her story, lies the importance of that almost invisible tightrope all great sportswomen have to walk. Imagine, for instance, wondering who’s taking care of Viswanathan Anand’s child when he’s competing abroad at a tournament? Or him being questioned about it. It’s the little things like that which truly shine a light on how a sportswoman’s achievement comes after climbing a higher, if intangible peak.
On International Women’s Day 2025, a reminder to celebrate this barrier crossing along with the achievement itself. And a reminder to celebrate the extraordinary champion-ness of Koneru Humpy.
