CHENNAI, OCTOBER 25: Koneru Humpy is no more a child prodigy; she is a Judit Polgar in the making. Comparisons are out of place though at this age Judit was just about the same strength. The only difference is that the Hungarian at 14 was already into the men's championships and never believed in child's play while Humpy goes on adding titles at the world level like she adds years to her age. The under-14 title at Oropesa for Humpy is not a big surprise but some of the coaches may still wonder why she should not be choosy about her events now lest she becomes stale and overworked.Yet a world title is as good an achievement for her as it is for India. There is a good deal of sponsorship for the young girl from Andhra Pradesh and all these titles will add credence to her growing demand. The number of international tournaments she played in 2000 may be more than 10 already. It is time for her to think and set specific targets with rating as the main theme.In chess, one may win title after title but unless these contribute to the development of the player they are useless. Humpy is in the 2,300 region on the Elo scale. She should try to touch 2,500 by the time she turns 16 so that she can make a mark in the common circuit. Judit did just that at 15 and became a Grandmaster (not woman).There is no market for women's chess right now and even the world championships were affected because of the lack of sponsorship. Which is why it is important for Humpy to concentrate on the open fields where she gets to meet strong opposition. She is well on her way to earn the Women's Grandmaster title but that is no big deal on the world circuit.Humpy played in the boys section and won the title too at the Asian level in the last couple of years. She is just too good for the boys of her age barring P.Harikrishna.The second title for India from Deep Sengupta of Bihar was quite unexpected, though, of course, every Indian national chamion now is considered world champion material in the world age-group championships. Harikrishna was a hot favourite to win gold in the under 14 section but he fared below par for a player of 2,500 Elo rating.Deep does not have a telling national track record as he had just won the under-12 title at Ahmedabad in May, 2000. He was also the under-9 runner-up in 1997.Bihar and particularly Jamshedpur had a good chess milieu when International Master Varugeese Koshy took special interest in coaching young talents in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Vishal Sareen and Dolan Champa Bose emerged from the group to make some strides at the national level. Then Koshy's migration from Bihar to Chennai deterred the coaching stints in Jamshedpur.Deep may have lost his identity card in Oropesa in the beginning, but when he comes back home he would be a celebrity like Harikrishna, Humpy or Aarthie Ramaswamy who repeatedly put India on the world chess map in the past.Humpy Aims For WGM NormNEW DELHI: Fresh from her recent victory at the Under-14 girls World Chess Championship, Koneru Humpy has now set her eyes on becoming a Woman Grandmaster. ``This (Grandmaster title) is my immediate aim . I amworking towards it,'' Humpy told reporters here. ``I already have one norm from the Asian Junior Championship and I need two more''. Humpy was earlier felicitated by Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi for her splendid performance. Expressing satisfaction , Humpy said her main advantage was she did not face any time pressure. ``I think I faced much less trouble compared to the other players in time management,'' said the 13-year-old champion from Andhra Pradesh. She considered her seventh round opponent Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia as the toughest to play with. All their four meetings including this have ended in draws.
