D. Harika kept her nerves when it mattered and cruised past Georgia’s Sopiko Guramishvili 3.5-2.5 after four tie-break games for a place in the quarterfinal of the Women World chess championship in Tehran on Sunday.
After drawing the first 25-minute rapid game with black pieces in 53 moves, Harika was expected to strike with white but had to settle for another draw in 51 moves. In the two 10-minute rapid games that followed, Harika won the first in 46 moves and then gained a comfortable position with black pieces after claiming a rook for a knight on the 23rd turn.
Sopiko, sensing that she could not attain a much-needed victory, drew the game following repetition of moves. Harika did not mind the deadlock in 35 moves since it paved the way for a quarterfinal clash with another Georgian Nana Dzagnidze.
However, Padmini Rout’s gallant campaign came to an end. Facing a much higher-rated Chinese Tan Zhongyi, Padmini won the first of the 25-minute rapid game with white pieces in 90 moves. She now needed a draw with black but Zhongyi bounced back to level the match after a 39-move victory.
In the first of the two 10-minute rapid games, Zhongyi again won with white pieces in 50 moves to take the lead. Padmini, playing white and facing a must-win situation, could only manage a draw after only the kings were left following a 57-move battle.
The results:
Pre-quarterfinal: Ju Wenjun (Chn) bt Olga Girya (Rus) 3.5-2.5; Tan Zhongyi (Chn) bt Padmini Rout 3.5-2.5; D. Harika bt Sopiko Guramishvili (Geo) 3.5-2.5; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) bt Shen Yang (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) bt Pham Le Thao Nguyen (Vie) 2-0; Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) bt Nino Khurtsidze (Geo) 1.5-0,5; Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) bt Pia Cramling (Swe) 4-2; Ni Shiqun (Chn) bt Natalia Pogonina (Rus) 1.5-0.5.
Quarterfinal line-up: Wenjun-Zhongyi; Harika-Dzagnidze; Muzychuk-Stefanova; Kosteniuk-Shiqun.
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