Sochi (Russia), Mar 29:
Running out of luck, Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy crashed out of the women’s world chess championship after losing the rapid tiebreak 0.5-1.5 against Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals here.
Having done everything right, Humpy was cruising to a victory in the second game after drawing the first and a win would have sealed her berth in the quarters, instead the Indian lost track of the position and a one-move blunder saw the tables turned.
Mariya Muzychuk thus advanced to the semi-final to set up a clash with India’s D Harika, who had made it to the semis at the expense of Meri Arabidze of Georgia.
On rating, Mariya is the favourite but going by the form, Harika might hold an edge especially as she also got a days’ rest ahead of the semis.
Veteran Pia Cramling of Sweden was a surprise entrant in to the semis defeating Mariya’s sister Anna Muzychuk in the second set of tiebreak games. Cramling won the first rapid game as black but lost the next that set the stage for the ten-minute games wherein the Swede triumphed winning the first game and drawing the second.
The 450000 USD Championship saw the local challenge still alive as Natalija Pogonina ousted the last remaining Chinese – Zhao Xue in the rapid games. Pogonina won her second game in the match with black pieces in the first rapid game and a draw was enough for the Russian to move to the last four in the return game with white pieces.
All eyes were on Humpy as despite a tied result in normal time control games, she had shown enough tenacity and better understanding than Muzychuk. In the first rapid game as black Humpy again nearly outplayed Muzychuk after a Scotch opening by the Ukrainian. (PTI)
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