Harika Holds Hou Yifan To A Draw

Harika Holds Hou Yifan To A Draw
By Arvind Aaron

Dronavalli Harika held world women’s champion Hou Yifan of China to a draw in the third round of the FIDE Grand Prix final leg at Sharjah on August 27, 2014.

There are eight rounds still to be played in this 12-player event. After this event, formally, FIDE will announce the venue for the World Women’s Chess Championship match between Hou Yifan and her new challenger. Koneru Humpy, the top finisher is likely to be the new challenger.

In a complicated French Tarrasch game, Hou Yifan and Harika repeated the position and drew in 35 moves. Both sides did not castle and had chosen unclear path to defend.

Humpy lost a pawn in the middlegame against Nafisa Muminova of Uzbekistan. In the rook ending, Humpy repeated the position and was lucky to get a draw.

Ju Wenjun beat her Chinese team-mate Zhao Xue to join Harika in the lead on 2.5 points from three games. Humpy is tied for the seventh place with 1.5.

The results (round three): Ju Wenjun (Chn) 2.5 bt Zhao Xue (Chn) 1.5; Elina Danielian (Arm) 1.5 bt Zhu Chen (Qat) 0; Tuvshintugs Batchimeg (Mgl) 2 drew with Anna Ushenina (Ukr) 2; Alina L’Ami (Rom) 0 lost to Tatiana Kosintseva (Rus) 2; Nafisa Muminova (Uzb) 0.5 drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind) 1.5; Hou Yifan (Chn) 2 drew with Dronavalli Harika (Ind) 2.5;

Photos : FIDE website