Koneru Humpy Becomes Indian Sportswoman of the Year...
... by bamboozling her opponents in equal (or are they?), technical endgames.
The reigning Womens’ World Rapid Champion, Humpy Koneru, was named BBC India’s “Sportswoman of the Year” in a media release issued on Tuesday, March 9th. She accepted the award graciously, and on behalf of the entire chess community, proclaiming, “this award is very precious, not only to me but the entire chess fraternity. Being an indoor game, chess doesn’t get as much attention as sports like cricket in India.” But then she went on, “I think I could win over the years because of willpower and confidence. A woman player should never think about quitting the game. Marriage and motherhood are part of life, and should not change the course of our lives.”
Preach, sister. For all women in sport, society’s expectations seem to offer a weighty counterbalance to earnest ambition. For those with the choice and ability to start a family, maternity leave (to say nothing of motherhood) presents something of a logistical challenge. For Koneru, it meant a two year sabbatical in the absolute prime of her career.
In 2002, Koneru Humpy became the youngest ever female player to achieve the title of “Grandmaster,” at the ripe old age of 15 years, 1 month, and 27 days, beating Judith Polgar’s record achievement by three months. In 2007, she became the second female player to achieve an Elo rating north of 2600, again, after Judith Polgar. Her path to the Womens’ World Championship title was all but assured, were it not for the meteoric rise of the super-talent Hou Yifan, who would break Koneru’s record and become the youngest ever female grandmaster in 2008 at the age of 14 years, 6 months, and 2 days.
By the time of the 2010 Women’s World Championship tournament, it had become clear that Humpy and Hou Yifan were on a collision course. Seeded 2nd, and 3rd, by nature of the fact that the top seed was granted to reigning champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Koneru and Yifan met in the semifinal of the knockout event, which Hou Yifan won 1.5-0.5, en route to the overall title. This was a major turning point in the rivalry. Prior to this match, Koneru held a positve score in head-to-head classical matches against the young Hou Yifan, but afterwards, she seemed to struggle. In 2011, when the women’s world championship was to be decided by match play, Hou Yifan defeated Koneru soundly, 5.5-2.5.
In 2012, FIDE again organized a knockout tournament to decide the women’s world championship. Here, Hou Yifan was surprisingly upset in the second round, but Koneru Humpy also failed to reach the final. After 2012, Hou Yifan would refuse to play in the Women’s World Championship in years when FIDE deigned to organize a knockout event, but she successfully defended her title in match play against all comers. With some of the lustre removed from the event as a result of Hou Yifan’s refusal to participate, Humpy seemed to offer some of the justification to her rival’s “point.” Every year, Humpy went into the event as a clear top seed, and every year she produces a sort of random result, being upset in an early knockout round.
In 2017, Humpy gave birth to her daughter, Ahana, and began a two year maternity leave, during which she did not compete at the highest levels of the game. When Ahana was a year old, Humpy returned to chess with a few disastrous results, and got to work updating her opening repertoire and sharpening her calculation abilities. In 2019, the world was treated to a new Koneru Humpy, same as the old one. A stone cold assassin at the chessboard, she would win the Skokolvo Womens’ Grand Prix and the Monaco Womens’ Grand Prix, earning a spot in the Womens’ World Rapid Championship, which she also went on to win. Of course, it’s not a classical time control, but it is the first time that “World Champion” and “Koneru Humpy” can be paired together, triumphantly, in a sentence. And it’s an award that Hou Yifan, who’s rapid and blitz ratings lag notably behind her performances at classical time controls, has never been able to call her own.
That Koneru was able to leapfrog all the way back to the top of the game seemingly instantaneously after nearly two years away from top-level competition is a Herculean feat seems to be something of an obvious conclusion. For this author, it’s a struggle to write this column in complete sentences after two weeks of work stress have kept me away from the game. And Humpy’s training routine had been irreparably altered by her own dedication to family, as she recounted to Telegraph India: “Motherhood has changed me in many ways. For one, it has made me a lot more patient. Previously I used to be very systematic and organized in everything I did. For instance, I had very regular sleeping hours and any disturbance therein would upset my rhythm. But now, sleep! And at night!” She laughed.
So, how has she done it? Basically by magic. I’ve reviewed a number of Humpy’s games from the last two years, and the thing that stands out again and again is this unbelievable patience, persistence and technique. She plays the openings modestly, for the most part, and generally achieves equal-ish positions, or maybe with a slight advantage. And then she simply seems to hypnotize her opponents, who are grandmasters and international masters in their own right. Humpy plays simple, precise moves, posing subtle problems, and she gradually fosters small advantages into something more serious until - suddenly - she’s completely winning, and before anyone else can figure out what’s happened. This week, let’s take a look at three of Koneru Humpy’s winning endgames from 2019 and see what we can learn:
Endgame Class #1:
The Rogue-ish Magic of Koneru Humpy’s Endgame Play
Koneru Humpy - Carissa Yip (1-0), Cairns Cup 2020, St. Louis
We join our heroine after 21 moves of a King’s Indian Defense, where the white player has sacrificed a pawn for a couple of strategic trumps. For one thing, Carissa’s dark squared bishop looks terrible on h8, and white has a little bit of a grip on the kingside as a function of the far-advanced h6 pawn. For another, the d5 square looks like a gaping hole in black’s position, and a white minor piece would love to take up residence there. Humpy plays simply, but directly to take advantage of these trumps. And Carissa responds accurately, exchanging pieces in order to fight to prevent white from occupying d5 permanently:
Bc4! Nc7 23. Nb5 Qd7 24. Nxc7 Bxc4 25. bxc4 Qxc7 26. Qb3 Qxc4 27. Bxa5 Qxb3 28. Rxb3 Rf7 29. Rfb1 (diagram)
But here, Carissa goes awry. After the exchanges, Humpy has retained her main trump card: the dark squared bishop is much better than its counterpart. Her rooks are active, and coordinated in an assault down the b-file that looks likely to regain the pawn she sacrificed earlier. Yip simply must do something to gain some activity and improve her abysmal bishop. Instead, she plays passively, trying to hold onto the extra material for dear life:
… Rb8? (29. … f5 suggests itself: 30. Rxb7 Rxb7 31. Rxb7 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Bf6 and black has returned the pawn, but retained equality) 30. Bd2! (diagram)
With black’s pieces passively positioned, Humpy has time to bring every piece at her disposal to bear on the b7 weakness. In this case, the bishop clears out of the way of the a-pawn. Humpy sets her sights on that goal and is simply able to ignore the little threats Yip is able to produce.
… f5 (one move too late) 31. a4! fxe4 32. a5! Rbf8 33. Rxb7 Rxf2 34. Bb4! (diagram)
And now, Carissa’s position is simply hopeless. I found this sequence to be instructive. Humpy simply allowed fxe4, because the e4 pawn keeps black’s own e5 pawn in the way of the h8 bishop. She allows Rxf2, because the fall of the b7 pawn makes her a-pawn dangerous, and passed. She plays comfortably down one, and then two pawns, secure in the knowledge that the d6 pawn is permanently weak, and her pieces are more active. And in the end, the poor h8 bishop is just lost, ignominiously:
… e3 35. Bxd6 Re8 36. Rb8 Rxb8 37. Rxb8+ Kf7 38. Rxh8 Rb2 39. Kf1 Ke6 40. Bc5 resigns. 1-0
It looks so simple. I really like that this game offers a lesson in patience and compensation. A pawn down, Humpy doesn’t rush to launch an attack on her opponent’s king, or panic as material is exchanged. Rather, she invites it. Each exchange serves to highlight the key imbalance in the position: her dark squared bishop is superior to its counterpart. And in the end, even with reduced material, Carissa’s king cannot find safety, and Humpy has an endgame trump card in the form of the passed a-pawn. The decision to play for active counterplay rather than passive defense on move 29 is always easier in hindsight than it is in practice, but here it’s clear that while Carissa’s rooks and bishop were tied down, Humpy was able to do whatever she wanted. Marching the a-pawn down the board and bringing additional pressure to bear on b7 did the trick.
In the following game, from the IMSA World Masters Blitz Championship in 2019, Irina Krush had been defending a bishop ending against Koneru, who was simply shuffling her king around and avoiding three-fold repetition as she searched for a breakthrough. Of course, the advanced white pawns on e5 and f5 meant that Humpy was never risking anything, but I find it instructive that she was simply able to maintain the pressure for so long that Krush eventually made a mistake. Of course, blitz games are generally not studied because they offer stellar examples of accurate end-game play, but here we can still learn valuable lessons. In the diagram position, Krush can hold on, but the threat of Bb5+ followed by e6, e7, and promotes is enough to prevent her from ever entertaining any greater ambitions…
Koneru Humpy - Irina Krush (1-0), IMSA World Masters Blitz 2019, Hengshui
We find Krush in the exact opposite position that her fellow American, Carissa Yip, found herself in during the Cairns Cup. Here, the menacing white e- and f-pawns force black into a passive, defensive posture. There’s nothing to do but sit. But Krush had been sitting for so many moves it becomes uncomfortable, and she lashed out at just the wrong time:
… Bd1?? (fatally losing control over the e6 square) 2. Bb5+ Kc7 3. e6 fxe6 4. fxe6 Kd6 5. e7 resigns (1-0)
That one is the stuff of nightmares for Irina. Of course, black can hold with 1. … Bb4 2. Bb5+ Kc7 3. Bf4 Kb6 when the g4 bishop forces the white light squared bishop back to the defense of the f5 pawn, 4. Bd3 and white is not making any progress. White can try 4. Be2 Bxf5 5. Bxh5 d3 6. Kf3 Bg6 but neither side is promoting. But it’s not all about the opponent’s mistake. This was an exhausting game for Irina, who had defended an unpleasant position for many many moves, and a sadistic victory from Humpy, who consistently refused to allow simplifications and repetitions as long as it seemed her e-pawn was closer to promotion than her opponents…
The final example is really a coup de grace in terms of endgame technique. We return to the 2020 Cairns Cup, this time to watch Humpy wring water from a stone in Round 6 against former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk:
Koneru Humpy - Alexandra Kosteniuk (1-0), Cairns Cup 2020, St. Louis
Not gonna lie - it’s almost unbelievable that Humpy was able to win this against a grandmaster. Material is completely even, and it’s black to move! That having been said, it’s not so easy for Kosteniuk. Part of the problem is that her c8 knight has difficulty asserting itself on the game. After white plays Kd3, the c4 square is denied to the black steed, and if the knight comes to d6, the black king is deprived of its most active square. Kosteniuk tries to activate the knight at all costs, but ends up stranding it, alone, on her opponent’s side of the board:
… Kd6 2. Kd3 Nb6 3. Kc3 Na4+ (diagram)
This seems to be where things start to go awry for Kosteniuk. Of course, just as we found in the previous game, it’s hard to offer advice to her. Sitting still and forcing your opponent to make things happen is an uncomfortable thing for a chessplayer to do.
Kb4 Nb2?! 5. Kb5 Nd1 6. Nd2 Nc3+? (diagram)
Check. White to move. Of course Humpy would like to go after the a-pawn, but things are not so simple…
Kb4! (forcing the knight deeper into her own territory, where it can no longer coordinate with Kosteniuk’s king).
Ka6 seems desirable, but runs into 7. … Kc5! 8. Kxa7 Nb5+, which is dead equal. Actually Kosteniuk might even start to claim that her king is more centralized in that position. 7. Kb4 is a much better move, and a really instructive one. The a4, b5, and d5 squares are all firmly under the white player’s control.
… Ne2 8. Nc4+ Ke6 9. Kb5 and all of a sudden, Kosteniuk is really struggling. If 9. … Nc3+ 10. Ka6! and Humpy will go eat the a7 pawn. The white knight on c4 defends a3 and blocks off the black king from coming over to help via d6.
… g6 10. Ka6 f5 11. Kxa7 fxe4 12. fxe4 Nc3 13. Kb6 Nxe4 14. Ne3 Nc3 15. Kc5 Ne4+ 16. Kb5 Nd6+ 17. Kc5 Ne4+ 18. Kb4 (avoiding repetitions) Nd6 19. Nc4 (diagram)
But here, Kosteniuk makes the final, fatal mistake. 19. … Nb7! 20. a4 Kd5 and black has excellent chances to hold, since 21. a5? can be met with 21. … Nxa5 22. Nxa5 Kd4! when the black king will be gobbling up the white kingside pawns. Instead, she played 19. … Nf5? and the active white king was able to totally dominate both its counterpart, and the black knight:
… Nf5? 20. Kc5 h5 21. Nd2 Nd6 22. a4 Nb7+ 23. Kc6 Nd8+ 24. Kc7 Ke7 25. a5 Ne6+ 26. Kc6 Kd8 27. a6 Kc8 28. a7 (diagram)
And here, 28. … Nc7 will ultimately fail after 29. Nc4 e4 30. Nd6+ and Nxe4, when all of black’s pawns will fall. Kosteniuk offered a spite check before resigning:
… Nd4+ 29. Kb6 resigns (1-0)
But what an impression this game made, as well! It’s so tempting with the benefit of hindsight to question Koneru’s opponents, but the pressure she puts on them by consistently playing simple, accurate moves is immense, and ratchets higher as each game goes on. Each of these endings is a powerful lesson in piece coordination and activity, and a reminder that even a little material can be enough to win the game.
Well played, Humpy, and what a well deserved distinction: Indian Sportswoman of the Year.
Puzzle of the Week #25:
But first, a solution to last week’s puzzle:
… Qa3+!! saves the draw for Maurizzi, like a bolt out of the blue. 2. Kxa3 would be stalemate, so the black player can simply keep giving kamikaze checks until white agrees to a draw. 1. Qd5! would have secured the win for the white player, and denied Maurizzi his GM norm. Who ever said there’s no luck in chess?
This week’s puzzle is taken from one of my own games. I was playing (poorly) with the black pieces, and found myself down the exchange. My opponent would like to get his king to safety, but the bishop on b5 is frustrating him. And then, of course, the e5 pawn is undefended. Is it safe for white to play 1. Qxe5? Why? Or, why not?
As usual, if you think you know the answer, shoot me an email at JensenUVA@gmail.com or DM on twitter @JensenUVA. Always nice to hear from ya.
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