Humpy and Yifan call for more moves like Global Chess League for women players

While the Tech Mahindra' s Global Chess League's unique mixed-team format has drawn praise from around the chess world, leading women players GM Koneru Humpy and GM Hou Yifan feel that a lot more had to be done to help achieve a more equitable chess ecosystem.

Speaking about the overall state of women’s chess GM Yifan from Ganges Grandmasters said, “The general situation of women's chess has evolved dramatically in the past few decades.

"I remember when I was young, most of the events for women were only be FIDE official events and very few invitational events. Even for some open events, the chances for women players to win it weren't as good as today.

“In the past few years, there are more organisers and sponsors paying attention to women's chess. There are stronger women players in the open chess tournaments," she added.

"I hope that there will be a more promising attitude towards women's chess and I also hope that because of our performance and experience, it will encourage more young girls to get involved with chess.”

On the other hand, GM Humpy said, “If I take India's case, I still feel that compared to the boys, the number of women players is quite less.

"Probably we need to work in the direction to increase the number of women players. Once that happens, probably the talent will come up slowly.”

While suggesting, what needs to be done to improve the scenario, she added:“There needs to be more tournaments for women in India especially for young girls. Once they find the talent, they should pick them up and train them. Training plays an important role in growing the pool of talented players in any sport.”

Chess has seen many changes over the years and increasing financial support from corporates has been a key factor in encouraging more players to take up chess as a full-time profession.

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Humpy believes that financial support still stays a key caveat for chess players to compete on the big stage.

“I believe in any sport if the financial support is high, more people will get attracted to it," she said.

"Even when IPL started, we see the amounts going higher every year and I believe it is the same for every sport.”

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