Koneru Humpy grabs historic World Rapid Chess Championship title

India's Koneru Humpy bagged an epochal second World Rapid Chess Championship title, beating Irene Sukandar of Indonesia here on Sunday. Humpy had won the event back in 2019 at Georgia and the Indian No 1 is only the second player after China's Ju Wenjun to clinch the title more than once.

The 37-year-old Humpy finished the tournament with 8.5 out of 11 points.

The 18-year-old Volodar Murzin of Russia bagged the corresponding title in the men's section.


Murzin is the the second-youngest FIDE World Rapid Champion, after Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who claimed the title at 17.

Humpy's achievement capped a sensational year for Indian chess after D Gukesh defeated China's Ding Liren to emerge champion in the classical format World Championship recently in Singapore.

Humpy has always excelled in the Rapid worlds as she had won a bronze medal in the 2012 edition of the event held in Moscow, while finished with a silver last year at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.