Harika’s heartbreak, loses in semifinals
Dronavalli Harika’s gutsy, determined run in the 2017 Women’s World Chess Championship in Tehran came to a heart-breaking halt as she lost to China’s Tan Zhongyi in the Armageddon tie-break to bow out of the tournament. Harika, who was aiming to become the first women’s world champion from India, will now settle for bronze for the third straight time after finishing in the same position in the 2012 and 2015 World championships.
What made it even more devastating for Harika was the fact that Tan was declared “won on time” in the Armageddon tiebreak.
According to the rules of the Armageddon, the player equipped with white has five minutes to make the move while black has four minutes. In this special tie-break, the player with white has to win in order to progress while black only has to draw to advance. In the Armageddon, Harika was playing with white pieces.
After 99 marathon moves, Harika ran out of time and Tan advanced to the final where she will meet Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk in the four-game final which begins on February 27.
It started right from the classical games, with Tan notching up an important win in the first game with white pieces. Facing a must-win game in the second match, Harika played aggressively with white and pushed for a win. However, the Chinese player’s superior defence skills pushed the game into overtime.
Although Harika had the advantage of an extra pawn, Tan’s stubborn resistance provoked a few errors. The Indian had missed a checkmate move and mistakenly chose to exchange the queen piece.
Heading into the tie-break, there were two 25-minute rapid games, followed by two 10-minute rapid games and two blitz games.
Harika started well by registering a 17-move win in the first rapid game but Tan levelled the score in style by winning the second game in 73 moves. In the second 10-minute rapid game, Tan started well by surging ahead but Harika continued to fight as she levelled the game in style by winning in 79 moves.