The Hindu : Harika halts Humpy's winning run

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 17, 2003

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Sport - Chess

Harika halts Humpy's winning run

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

Dronavalli Harika (right) and Koneru Humpy exchange the score sheets after their 12th round game ended in a draw at National women's A chess championship at Kozhikode on Sunday. — Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

KOZHIKODE NOV. 16. Dronavalli Harika, the young prodigy from the coastal Andhra brought an end to her idol Koneru Humpy's amazing winning streak in the 12th round of the Oilum 30th

National women's `A' chess championship at the Chess India Complex here on Sunday.

Harika holding the top-seeded Humpy wasn't the only surprise of the day though, as second seed S. Vijayalakshmi of Indian Airlines, who had won her last nine rounds, played an eminently forgettable game against Nisha Mohota of LIC and duly lost.

That was not all. Aarthie Ramaswamy, the defending champion from Chennai, slumped to her fourth straight defeat, debutante Saheli Nath of Bengal being her latest conqueror. All these happenings have ensured that the remaining five rounds of the championship would be very interesting.

Humpy is still in the sole lead, with 11.5 points, and Vijayalakshmi's loss has helped her extend that lead to 1.5 points. Viji, as Vijayalakshmi is better known, remains on 10 points, while Nisha has moved to 8.5 points and maintained her sole third position. In the fourth place are three players on

7.5 — Harika, Viji's younger sister S. Meenakshi and Eesha Karvade of Maharashtra, who, along with fellow-Puneite Kruttika Nadig, has been pretty impressive so far. Continuing with her good run, during which she beat Anupama and Aarthie and drew with Bhagyashree, Harika and Nisha,

Kruttika today held Tania Sachdev of Delhi.

Not surprisingly, it was the Humpy-Harika game that drew the interest of the spectators most. Harika employed Grunfeld defence and she soon gave the impression that she wouldn't mind a draw, as she looked eager to exchange the pieces. That was not at all strange, because her formidable rival had been in incredible form, crushing the opposition without too much trouble, whereas she hasn't quite had a satisfactory tournament so far. And of course, she was playing with black pieces.

This was only their second meeting across a chessboard. The first one, during the Asian women's championship here in August, had also failed to produce a decisive result. That time too, Harika, though she had white then, was playing for a draw from the beginning.

Humpy did press hard for a win, maybe too hard, too soon. She did have an edge in the bishop-versus-kinght ending, with a queen-side pawn majority. But her passed pawn was stopped by black's knight, and she couldn't advance her king. The peace treaty was signed after 49 moves.

Humpy was disappointed that she couldn't complete a dozen straight victories. "And I should have won today," she said.

Russian Grandmaster Ruslan Scherbakov, on a coaching assignment here, said it was a good performance from Harika.

Nisha too was a happy girl today. After all, she had beaten Viji for the first time since 1999. It didn't matter really that she received considerable help from her opponent.

In a Queens' Gambit Declined game, Viji, with white pieces, made a costly mistake on the 21st move. She decided to take her knight for an unnecessary ride, and straightaway saw that she was losing an exchange, following a centre pawn push by Nisha.

But Nisha hardly played correctly after that. Neither did Viji. The former champion had a chance to force perpetual checks — and thus salvage a draw — on the 43rd move by sacrificing her knight. She did make the sacrifice, but on the wrong square, and became a full rook down.

Nisha won in 66 moves in the end, putting an end to her five successive draws. Saheli defeated Aarthie in 31 moves of Sicilian Defence, while Kruttika and Tania drew after 22 moves of an Italian Game.

The results (12th round): Tania Sachdev (Del) 6 drew with Kruttika Nadig (Mah) 6.5; S. Vijayalakshmi (IA) 10 lost to Nisha Mohota (LIC) 8.5; Swati Ghate (LIC) 5.5 bt M.R. Sangeetha (TN) 2; Saheli Nath (Ben) 5 bt Aarthie Ramaswamy (TN) 6; Koneru Humpy (AP) 11.5 drew with Dronavalli Harika (AP) 7.5; S. Meenakshi (IA) 7.5 bt Anupama Gokhale (BP) 4.5; Koneru Chandra Hawsa (AP) 5.5 drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI) 3.5; C.V. Rajalakshmi (TN) 1.5 lost to Saimeera Ravi (IB) 4; Y. Prathiba (TN) 5.5 drew with Eesha Karvade (Mah) 7.5.

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