NEW DELHI: On Friday, the Indian women's team, defending champions and unbeaten so far in the tournament, was paired against Greece in Round 3 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
On paper, this looked routine.
India, the top seeds, were expected to win the tie, and they eventually did.
But the top-board clash between Koneru Humpy and Greece's Stavroula Tsolakidou carried a subplot that had been building for a fortnight, and it turned an otherwise straightforward fixture into the day's most closely watched game.Tsolakidou was part of Ganges Grandmasters, the eventual champions of the just-concluded Global Chess League (GCL) Season 4.
It was against Humpy, playing for APL Pipers, that Tsolakidou suffered her first loss of that tournament, playing white.To turn the tables in the reverse fixture, she needed something special, and got it when coach Adhiban Baskaran handed her a folder titled "Prep for the Greek Goddess!" Working off that file, she beat Humpy with the black pieces.
The moniker "Greek Goddess" became famous.The two met again in the GCL final, where Tsolakidou held Humpy to a draw in the first game and then beat her again with black in the second.A positive score over the Indian, coupled with the results on the other boards, was enough to hand Ganges Grandmasters the title, with Tsolakidou also named the Player of the Tournament.So when the pairing brought them together again on Friday, it was more than a Grandmaster-versus-International Master matchup.
This time, as the format shifted from rapid to classical, the Indian veteran Grandmaster prevailed.39-year-old Humpy, with white, built her position with patience.
The game began as a Nimzo-Indian structure, with Humpy choosing an ambitious setup featuring 10.b4 and 11.b5, gaining queenside space.Black’s pieces became somewhat passive, while White gradually built pressure with 14.f4, 15.Qf3 and 16.Rad1.The critical phase arrived with 21.e5, opening lines and increasing the activity of White’s pieces.After 22.bxc6 bxc6, Humpy’s knight penetrated with 23.Ne4 and 24.Nxd6, winning material and creating....
