Humpy bests Zhu, takes over the lead; Divya in joint second spot

Divya Deshmukh (left) defeated Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia to move into joint second position in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix at Pune on Monday.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Ajith Kumar

In what was always likely to be the most important game of the fifth leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix, Koneru Humpy got the better of Zhu Jiner. With that vital win in the seventh round at the Amanora-The Fern, the top-seeded Indian snatched the sole lead from her Chinese rival, seeded second.

Humpy has 5.5 points with just two rounds remaining. After her first loss, Zhu, who remains on five points, has slipped to the second spot, where she is joined by Divya Deshmukh, who registered a crushing win against Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mongolia.

As expected, it was a keenly fought encounter on the day’s main board, which saw Queen’s Indian Defence.

But Zhu blundered a piece on the 44th move. There was hardly anything to play for Black after that, and she gave up another 11 moves later.

The results (seventh round): Nurgyul Salimova (Bul) drew with Salome Melia (Geo); R. Vaishali 3 drew with Alina Kashlinskaya (Pol) 2; Koneru Humpy 5.5 bt Zhu Jiner (Chn) 5; Divya Deshmukh 5 bt Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2; Polina Shuvalova (Rus) 4drew with D. Harika 3.5.