Harika Held To A Draw In Game One

By Arvind Aron

India’s main title hope Dronavalli Harika was held to a draw by Akter Liza Shamima (Ban) in game one of round one in the FIDE World Women’s Chess Championship that is taking place in Tehran on February 11, 2017.

In the reverse colour game, Harika, seed No.4 will have the advantage of sitting behind the white colour. In a two game match, the player who scores 1.5-0.5 advances and in case of a 1-1 tie, the tie-break will be used to identify the winner.

India’s other player, Padmini Rout, seed No.40 held higher seed Elena Danielian of Armenia to a draw with the black pieces.

Top three seeds, Ju Wenjun (Chn), Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) and A Kosteniuk (Rus) won their opening games and need a draw to advance in the 64-player contest.

The higher seeds to lose game one of round one was Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) to Khaled Mona (Egy) and Anastasia Bodnaruk (Rus) to Mitra Hejazipur (Iri).