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Journalism of Courage
Koneru Humpy has decided to give the chess Olympiad, to be staged this November in Dresden, Germany, a miss despite being given her maiden opportunity to play for the men’s team.
The 21-year-old was keen to represent the country in the open section, but when selected to be a part of the men’s team this year, she preferred to play in her promised FIDE events and earn some ELO rating points. “It was a difficult choice but I’ll have to skip it. I had already confirmed some competition in Europe — the European Club Cup in Greece and Cap de Agde in France — eight months earlier. The dates of these tournaments have now been postponed to late October and the Olympiad is in November,” Humpy said.
For Humpy, who has toppled Anatoly Karpov twice in rapid games, the opportunity to play on the same board as Karpov and Bacrot in a competition for players of the calibre of ELO 2700 was hard to resist. “In Cap de Agde I will meet (Etienne) Bacrot of France, Karpov and other 2700 plus players and since I am concentrating on my rating, it is difficult to miss those” Humpy said.
Humpy feels her absence will not make much difference. “We don’t have a medal chance against China and Russia as they have all players above ELO 2450 or 2500. But among men, if Viswanathan Anand plays they have a good chance.”
