Women’s Chess Championship: Harika held by Shamima in opener

Fourth seed Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika was held to a surprising draw by lower ranked Shamima Akter Liza of Bangladesh.

Harika, who started the first round contest as an overwhelming favourite, tried hard with the black pieces but Shamima was quite up to the task to match the Indian star.

National champion Padmini Rout produced a nice finish to her second game against Armenia’s Elina Danielian for an impressive 1-5-0.5 victory in their two-game mini-match and advanced to the second round of the Women world chess championship here on Sunday.

However, fourth seed D. Harika will have to play the tie-break games, of shorter time duration, on Monday against Bangladesh’s Akter Liza Shamima. For the second successive day, their game ended with honours even. Playing white, Harika let go of an opportunity to gain a pawn but erred immediately on the 29th move. Thereafter, she defended the position until Shamima let the advantage slip on the 38th move. At this stage, draw was agreed.

After having escaped to a draw with black pieces on Saturday, Padmini was in her elements with white pieces and scored a comprehensive 29-move victory in Caro-Kann. Padmini, rated 2387, was comfortably placed and headed for a better endgame. But Elina, rated 2444, committed a blunder with her queen-move on the 28th move. Padmini quickly seized the moment with a rook-move that left Elina staring at a one-move mate or the loss of queen for a rook. She resigned immediately.

In the second round, Padmini is due to meet the winner of the ongoing match, between eighth seeded Chinese Zhao Xue and lower-ranked Argentine Ayelen Martinez, which stands locked at 1-1.

Complete results: Round 1 game one: Ju Wenjun (Chn) beat Nancy Lane (Aus); Amina Mezioud (Alg) lost to Anna Muzychuk (Ukr); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) beat Sabrina Latreche (Alg); Shamima Akter Liza (Ban) drew with D Harika (Ind); Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Mona Khaled (Egy); Viktorija Ni (Usa) lost to Valentina Gunina (Rus); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) beat Yaniet Marrero Lopez (Cub); Ayelen Martinez (Arg) lost to Zhao Xue (Chn); Tan Zhongyi (Chn) drew with Sabina Foisor (Usa); Sofio Gvetadze (Geo) lost to Nino Batsiashvili (Geo); Natalija Pogonina (Rus) drew with Zhou Qiyu (Can); Arribas Robaina Maritza (Cub) drew with Shen Yang (Chn); Hoang Thanh Trang (Hun) drew with Nataliya Buksa (Ukr); Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) drew with Elizabeth Paehtz (Ger); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) drew with Zhai Mo (Chn); Mitra Hejazipour (Iri) beat Anastasia Bodnaruk (Rus); Olga Girya (Rus) w/o Foisor Cristina-Adela (Rou); Pham, Le Thao Nguyen (Vie) drew with Lela Javakhishvili (Geo); Pia Cramling (Swe) beat Katerina Nemcova (Usa); Sopiko Guramishvili (Geo) beat Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri);Monika Socko (Pol) drew with Anastasia Savina (Rus) ; Daria Charochkina (Rus) lost to Huang Qian (Chn); Natalia Zhukova (Ukr) lost to Nino Khurtsidze (Geo); Nastassia Ziaziulkina(Blr) drew with Anna Ushenina (Ukr);Elina Danielian (Arm) drew with Padmini Rout (Ind); Melia Salome (Geo) beat Ekaterina Atalik (Tur); Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm) drew with Ni Shiqun (Chn); Olga Zimina (Ita) drew with Bela Khotenashvili (Geo); Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz) beat Marina Marina Nechaeva (Rus); Inna Gaponenko (Ukr) beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus); Deysi Cori (Per) drew with Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus); Zhu Chen (Qat) beat Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina).