IMAGE: Reigning women’s World rapid champion Koneru Humpy gave a good display of her positional strength against overnight joint-leader and compatriot Divya Deshmukh in the third round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Pune on Wednesday. Photograph: X
Experience prevailed over youth as India’s Koneru Humpy defeated compatriot Divya Deshmukh and China’s Zhu Jiner emerged the sole leader in an eventful third round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Pune on Wednesday.
Humpy was a class apart as she beat overnight joint-leader and compatriot Divya while Munguntuul Batkhuyag scored over Alina Kashlinskaya.
Incidentally, Humpy and Munguntuul, both 37-year-olds, have been contemporaries and it was interesting to witness them scoring emphatic victories on the day.
Dronavali Harika got the better of Nurgyul Salimova in an interesting game.
Jiner was held to a draw by Melia Salome and has emerged as the sole leader with 2.5 points.
For years, Humpy, the reigning women’s World rapid champion, has been stamping her authority on world chess, and gave a good display of her positional strength on the day.
Humpy surprised Divya by opting for the English Opening, one which she hasn’t played in a while and that left her opponent thinking from the second move itself.
An opening inaccuracy had Humpy sitting comfortably while Divya’s knight found itself at the edge of the board. An open position had Humpy manoeuvring her pieces to keep gaining advantage. Humpy’s bishop pair and a passed pawn on the queen side resulted in a victory after 53 moves.
“With a new opening, one which I used to play long back, it was kind of practical play on board. After the 30th move, all I needed was to keep getting my pieces to the right squares,” Humpy said.
In a Queen’s Gambit Declined game between Alina and Munguntuul, it was apparent that the clash was heading for an engrossing tussle with both players committing very early to castling on opposite sides and initiating attack on each other’s Kings.
The middle-game was fluid with an open position with plenty of play possible for both. Munguntuul was the first one to break through on the queen-side. A pawn exchange on the 23rd turn by Alina tilted the game in Mongolian’s favour.
Alina resigned on the 34th turn when threatened with a checkmate by Munguntuul’s queen and rook.
A visibly elated Mungultuul later said, “I prepared and surprised her in the Opening by opting for an unfamiliar variation and thought that the position in the middle-game was rather unclear..
Nurgyul versus Harika was a Catalan game in which the Indian ace probably missed the fastest route to victory, but nevertheless, garnered a point after 68 moves.
The Italian Opening between Vaishali and Polina started with some quick exchanges in the opening stages, but by the 20th turn, most pieces including the Queen’s were exchanged.
Both players decided against calling it a day and tried for initiative till all possibilities for a decisive result were exhausted. The draw was signed after 63 moves when each had a rook, king and couple of pawns.
Melia Salome adopted the Sicilian defence against Jiner and the game ended in a hard- fought draw.
