Her
name is Humpy Koneru, The 20‑year‑old
hails from India and will most likely
be the best female chess player in history.
Koneru became a Grandmaster in 2002, when
she was 15 years,1 month and 27 days old–making
her the youngest woman to ever become
a Grandmaster.
Today,
at age 20, her ELO ranking is 2,572, very
close to the 2,600 barrier. The only female
player who has ever achieved more than
2,600 ELO points is the Hungarian Judit
Polgar, who today is 31 years old and
has an impressive 2,707 ELO mark.
Koneru
is still very far away from reaching Polgar’s
level, but she is only 20. In fact, her
performance is better now than Polgar’s
at the same age.
Other
top female player players have never reached
that ELO. In fact, they have not been
able to meet the 2,550 mark. Alexandra
Kosteniuk (23, Russia) has 2,515 points,
Pia Cramlin (44, Sweden) 2,533 and Yifan
Hou (13, China) 2,523.
Koneru
is younger, more aggressive and better
prepared than all of them. But until Koneru
is able to reach Polgar’s level, we will
watch her evolution. Her victories are
already brilliant.
Today
we present a game of hers against Latvian
Grandmaster Viesturs Meijers (40). The
game was played during the First Kaupthing
Grandmasters Open in Luxemburg. Koneru
was the winner of the tournament. We still
don’t know what other tournaments Koneru
is going to play this year. As soon as
we know, we will certainly keep you updated.
After her victory in Luxemburg, she is
the player of the moment.
