Harika, Padmini in tiebreaker
TEHRAN: Fourth seed Grandmaster D Harika entered her third tiebreaker in as many rounds, while Padmini Rout also made it to the final day of the third round of World Women’s Chess Championship here. With the quarterfinal berths at stake, Harika did not get much with white pieces and attained a draw against Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia, while Padmini pressed hard but also could not manage a draw against Tan Zhongyi of China.
As both Indians had drawn the first game under classical time control too, the match will now be decided in a maximum of seven games in the tiebreaker.
Harika has been tentative in normal games and the trend continued for the sixth game in a row.
In the first round she had drawn both games against much lower-ranked Shamima Akter Liza of Bangladesh while in the second Dinara Saduakassova had proven to be a tough nut.
Although she tried hard against Guramishvili in the first game and was close to pressing her advantage home, the second game proved that Guramishvili was well-prepared too.
For the record, it was a Queen’s gambit accepted wherein pieces changed hands at regular intervals and the Georgian even managed an optically better position in the ensuing queen and minor piece endgame.
However, Harika gave nothing away and drew in 36 moves. Padmini faced the Berlin defense from Zhongyi and looked slightly better in the typical endgame that arises from the opening. Zhongyi was also up to the task in defense and the game was drawn in a mere 23 moves.
Both Harika and Padmini will now play the two rapid tiebreak games with 25 minutes each and a 30 seconds increment after every move.