The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Humpy, Rohit to tour Germany, Dubai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Humpy, Rohit to tour Germany, Dubai

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, MARCH 22. With two major events — the Asian and the Commonwealth Championship, cancelled due to problems in the All India Chess Federation, the players, especially from Andhra are forced to look for other options.

The 2001 World junior champion and World No.4 Koneru Humpy, Andhra's first IM Lanka Ravi and the 2002 Asian youth (under-14) gold medallist Gogineni Rohit have decided to embark on a twin tour of Germany for the International Open event from March 24 to 28 and then to Dubai Open (April 3 to 13) to pick some valuable ELO points.

They hope to regain confidence after a long lull. For instance, Humpy played her last international event, Olympiad in October last. For both Ravi and Rohit it is also a similar experience.

"The crisis in the AICF is a blow for us. Our preparations have gone awry. We believe whichever set-up takes over takes care of the players' interests," feels Ravi.

Ashok is aware that Humpy desperately needs a big break in the women's circuit. This is the crucial phase in her career. Humpy (ELO 2512) is disturbed at the way her preparations have gone haywire for the next World women's championship scheduled to be held this year-end.

And because of the lesser rating in the Bangalore National `A' April-end, Humpy, sponsored by Bank of Baroda, has not yet decided whether to take part in it or not.

"Playing in big events is always a different and worthy experience despite hours of preparations," she insists.

Ashok analysing her daughter's game and progress frankly says that she took longer time to stabilise in the women's circuit. "Either she was losing some of the big games by way of over confidence against weaker players or getting tired early to let the advantage slip against higher-rated players. Essentially, it was a mixed show by her so far in the women's circuit," he explained.

Exactly for this reason, Ashok, the father-cum-coach of Humpy, has decided to go to Germany and Dubai.

And for the first time, this famous father-daughter combination has decided to join hands with a seasoned campaigner from the State — Lanka Ravi. Incidentally, both Ravi and Ashok made their debut in the National `B' in 1981.

For the 16-year-old Rohit it should be an experience, which should only bring back his confidence after failing to produce anything special in the last two years.

Ravi may be the odd person out in the trio. And, he knows it was definitely too late for him to make a big impact after getting the IM way back in 1987 and the first GM norm long time back. "The love for the sport is what makes me look for these events," he insists.

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