Harika Dronavalli lone Indian in World Chess Championship as Koneru Humpy ousted
In the second round of the World Chess Championship, Koneru Humpy drew one and lost the other of her match in the round to make an exit from the tournament. Of the other women participants from India, only Harika Dronavalli remains in the fray as she drew both her matches in the second round.
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy was forced to exit from the World Chess Championship (WCC) after she lost her match to Jolanta Zawadzka of Poland in the second game of the second round. Harika Dronavalli remains the only candidate for India in the WCC now.
Harika was returning after almost two years break and now she will have to wait another couple of years before she gets another chance at the title. The second round had two matches of which Humpy secured a draw in her first with the black pieces. Her plan to win with white in the second match did not go down too well as she lost in the 78-move match.
On the other hand, Harika drew both her matches against Khotenashvili to take the round to the tie-breaker where the matches are played in a decreasing time frame. Harika and Khotenashvili will first play two games with 25 minutes each and if still tied, will play two more games with 10 minutes each. If the deadlock continues, there will be two more games and if it is still not resolved, the players will be locked in a final Armageddon game to decide the winner. Harika has already won the two bronze medals at the Championship before and will be vying for a better finish this time around.
