Harika steadies with two draws


Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli, the lone Indian chess player at the prestigious 14th Anatoly Karpov Rapid International Chess Tournament displayed a determined performance and played out two highly entertaining draws on day three, here on Saturday.

 

Harika, who started the day in the seventh position on the points table, after a somewhat undesirable previous day’s performance, took on the local favourite and Grand Master Edouard Romain with an ELO rating of 2628 in her round five game. With both the players looking to snatch their second win of the tournament, the game was poised for an exciting finish. However, with time running out both the players did not want to drop further points and settled for a draw.

 

The World No. 5 Indian in her next round game went head to head against another local Grand Master Sebag Marie with ELO rating of 2488. Harika started off on an aggressive note in order to build pressure on her opponent. However, the Frenchwoman stood to her ground and put up a defiant act to escape with a draw.

 

Even though she would have liked better results, Harika was content with her performance. “It was a good day overall for me. I would have wanted to end the day with one win at least, but overall in terms of how the tournaments is poised, every point is crucial and I am happy to have at least secured a point from two games,” the Hyderabadi lass said.

 

Harika, who has one win, three draws and two loss till now in the tournament in currently in the sixth position on the leader board. The fourth day will be crucial for her as she will need to be on top of her game to keep her hopes alive to qualify for the knock-out stages. However, it will be a real test for her in her next two rounds as she will take on the highest rated player of the tournament Bacrot Etienne of France and the legendary Anapoly Karpov of Russia, the no. 1 seeded player in the fifth and sixth round respectively.

 

While she will be looking for retribution against the Etienne who has already beaten her once in the tournament, she will also be up against the former World champion Karpov and good performance against both the players will hold her in good stead for the rest of the tournament.