Harriet Hunt

Harriet Hunt
Harriet Hunt, Warsaw 2006
Full name	Harriet V. Hunt
Country	England
Title	International Master, WGM
FIDE rating	2454 (April 2008)
Peak rating	2457 (January 2008)

Harriet V. Hunt (born February 4, 1978, Oxford) is an English chess player and four times British Ladies' champion.

A high profile player from an early age, she won five British Junior Girls titles between 1989 and 1991. Even more significant was her (1991) share of the British Junior Under-14 title, when she became the first girl to compete victoriously in the Boys/Open section of the national championships.

At 16, she made her debut for the English Ladies Olympiad Team. Her result at the event included a draw with future Ladies World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova.

Her performances at the World Youth Chess Championships were no less encouraging; bronze at Under-14 level (Duisberg, 1992) and silver from the Cala Galdana Under-18 event of 1996.

Between 1995 and 1999 she was British Ladies Champion four times.

Then in 1997, she won the World Girls' (Under-20) Championship in Żagań, at the end of a "year out" between school and her Plant Science studies at Cambridge University. In Pula the same year and by then a Woman International Master, she scored 5/7 on board 2 at the European Team Championship and this contributed to the English Ladies Team third place finish and a team bronze medal. 1997 was also the year that Hunt was invited by chess organiser Johan Zwanepol to compete at the Groningen Open Grandmaster tournament. Zwanepol had been an arbiter at her Zagan victory and was keen to see further progress. Her result of 6/11 was probably as good as could be expected in such a strong competition (the entry included 30+ grandmasters headed by M. Gurevich, Ehlvest, Miles, Nisipeanu, Atalik, Tiviakov etc.).

By 1999, Hunt had attained the title of Woman Grandmaster and at the Batumi European Team Championship played board 1, returning an outstanding 7/9 performance to win the individual gold medal.

She was awarded the International Master title in 2000 and in July of that year, her Elo rating rose to 2454, a career high, placing her at 16th in the World's top 100 women. In 2001, she led the English Ladies once more to the European Team Championship (in León, Spain) and again returned with a team bronze medal. After graduating, she had meanwhile chosen to take up a Research Fellowship at Cambridge, specialising in Archaeogenetics, a subject allied to her degree.

At the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Calvia, she narrowly missed out on a medal after scoring 9.5/13, for a rating performance of 2558. Humpy Koneru was one notable scalp.

She has played in many other international tournaments, including London (Agency), Cappelle La Grande, Berlin (Summer Festival), Stockholm (Rilton Cup) and Hastings and along the way, has defeated male Grandmasters. She has two younger brothers, Adam, who is also an International Master of chess and Laurence, a cognitive neuroscientist .

Hunt has been a Cambridge team member at the annual Varsity (Oxford vs Cambridge) match - historically the world's longest running series of matches. At the millennium event, she contested an all-girl pair-up with former World Girls (Under-18) Champion, Ruth Sheldon. The game was originally slotted as a board 2 encounter, but its elevation to top board brought the match increased publicity and a unique place in the history of the event. Their individual game finished a hard fought draw, but Cambridge went on to win the match by the narrowest of margins.

In regular University team competition she has represented Jesus College Chess Society in the highest student league. The team shared first place in the 2005/06 season and Hunt scored 100% on top board. At a national level, she plays in the 4NCL, representing Betsson.com in the 2006/7 and 2007/08 seasons. In Germany, she has played in the (Ladies) Bundesliga.

Having completed a Doctorate, Harriet Hunt is currently employed by Cambridge University as a Research Associate at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research. In January 2008, her FIDE rating was 2454, making her the highest ranking English woman and number 32 in the World.

Sample games

• Koneru-Hunt, 0-1, Calvia Olympiad, 2004. Black skilfully out-manoeuvres her highly rated opponent on the queenside, obtaining a lasting advantage and a winning ending.
• Cramling-Hunt, 0-1, Womens Chess Cup, Dresden, 2006. Black's understanding of the positional requirements, combined with queenside pressure creates insurmountable problems for a player rated 100 Elo points higher.

References

• Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information
• Jon Speelman on Varsity Match
• English results around the world: 1974-2006

External links

• Harriet Hunt rating card at FIDE
• Harriet Hunt player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• University Website