Koneru Humpy to Play in Women's Grand Prix Event

From The Hindu February 28, 2009 Online Edition Humpy for Turkey event HYDERABAD: World No. 2 Koneru Humpy will take part in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess championship to be held in Istanbul (Turkey) from March 6 to 20, according to her father-cum-coach Koneru Ashok. The Turkish event featuring three former world champions, is going to be held as the first one of the Woman Grand Prix series 2009-2010 organised by the FIDE and Global Chess BV. The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments that will have six legs in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned to be held in Nanjing (China) at the end of September. The introduction of the Grand Prix series also means that there will be a World Championship contest annually from 2010. In that year, the champion will be determined from the World Championship knock-out which will also be held in Turkey. In the following year, 2011, the world champion will face the winner of the Grand Prix series 2009-10 in a match for the title. — Principal Correspondent