Mahindra Hails Koneru As 'an Indian Queen' After Historic Win at World Rapid Chess Championship

Businessman and social media personality Anand Mahindra took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to celebrate the win of Indian chess player Humpy Koneru in her second World Rapid Chess Championship title. Calling her "an Indian Queen", Mahindra praised Koneru for making India proud with her victory.

Koneru, a 37-year-old chess player from India, claimed her second World Rapid Chess Championship title by defeating Irene Sukandar of Indonesia in New York on December 29. The win marked Koneru's first major international success after winning the 2019 Georgia World Rapid event, where she was only the second Indian to secure the title twice.

The tournament saw multiple successes for India's chess team with D Gukesh earlier this year emerging as the new world chess champion by defeating China's Ding Liren in Singapore. In addition, India recently achieved a historic win at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, claiming gold medals in both Open and Women's categories.

According to reports from PTI, Koneru was left ecstatic about her victory, revealing it came as an unexpected surprise given her recent struggles. "I'm very excited and feel very happy," she said in an exclusive interview with reporters after the win. "It seems unusual, particularly in light of the several setbacks I've faced recently where I ended up finishing at the bottom spot." Koneru added that winning just one game out of four consecutive victories boosted her confidence.

The victory has sent a wave of inspiration for Indian chess hopefuls, with Koneru stating she expects other young players to take up the sport following her success. "I think it's high time for India," she said. "We already have Gukesh as world champion and now I've achieved another major title in this event so I hope that it will motivate a lot of youngsters to pursue chess professionally."