IMHarriet V Hunt

Harriet Hunt grew up in Oxford and won several British junior girls' titles. In 1991 she shared the open British under-14 championship, becoming the first girl to win an open age-group title at the event. She made her England Olympiad debut at sixteen. Her world youth medals included under-14 bronze in 1992 and under-18 silver in 1996. In 1997 she won the World Junior Girls Championship during a gap year before studying plant science at Cambridge. She helped England win European women's team bronze that year and again in 2001. At the 1999 European Team Championship she won individual gold on first board. She won four British women's championships between 1995 and 1999, then a fifth in 2021. At the 2004 Olympiad she scored 9½/13, including a victory over Humpy Koneru. Beyond chess, she pursued a doctorate and research in archaeogenetics at Cambridge. Her scientific career later took her to Kew Gardens.