‘Nothing went according to my plans’: K Humpy opens up ahead of Olympic title defense

K Humpy, India’s top female chess player, was not willing to list her preferred board number for Team India at the Olympics. Nor did she say that she would play according to the wishes of the team or the captain. But she left enough hints.“I’ve played in a few Olympics and I’ve always played in one. For many years, we’ve followed a rating process to keep the order on the board. I don’t know how they’re going to look at it this year,” Humpy said. TOI from Vijayawada on Monday. Top seed India is set to defend its gold medal in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from September 16.Humpy finished eighth on 3.5 points in the nine-round Cairns Cup Classic in St Louis, USA. But her Norwegian Chess campaign in May-June, where she finished sixth and last, was particularly disappointing. “It’s not that comfortable going into the Olympics in that scenario,” Humpy said. “I’m just waiting to get back into good shape. I was a bit rusty but that happens to every player. You’re going to be in that bad phase and then you’ll get out of it.”Humpy said of her poor run in Norway: “I was playing the tournament after a very long layoff. Nothing went according to my plans. It’s been a worrying year. I was also a bit upset about things outside the game and it probably reflected in the way I played.”Humpy withdrew from the Candidates’ tournament in Cyprus after FIDE rejected her request to move the eight-member Women’s World Cup qualifier to a safer location, citing security concerns arising from the war in West Asia.“I think I’m fine now,” she said. “It probably worried me for a few months. Like, it’s not easy for a player who’s been a pro and worked at it and then took all the negativity. So it affected me. I had a lot of sleepless nights as well. But I’ve been in better shape for the last month or so.”