Lone Indian in fray, Harika draws with Kosteniuk in world championship

KHANTY MANSIYSK, RUSSIA: Indian Grandmaster D Harika played out a hard-fought draw against former champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in the first game of the third round in the Women’s World Chess Championships here on Saturday.

The lone surviving Indian in the tournament, Harika looked poised to crash through. However, Kosteniuk remained in the game with some tenacious defence and saved the day in the endgame.

Harika will have black in the return game and if history is anything to go by, the Indian may have an edge in the encounter against the Russian.

It was an easy start in the Catalan opening as white and Kosteniuk equalized in the early middle game.

The pressure was built by Harika when she broke through in the centre and launched an offence with her well placed pieces.

Harika was rewarded with a passed pawn in the process and the squeeze continued despite the trade of queens. Kosteniuk realised that passive defence was the best solution and stuck to the basics in finding many right moves to keep Harika at bay.

In the end, the players reached a theoretically drawn rook and pawns endgame.

Top seed Ju Wenjun of China scored over compatriot Zhai Mo as black to almost assure her entry to the pre-quarterfinals.