Top seed Koneru Humpy and Xu Yuanyuan of China scored emphatic victories to join overnight leaders Dronavalli Harika and Gu Xiaobing at the top of the table with 3.5 points each after the fourth round in the 10th Asian women's chess championship in Kozikhode on Wednesday.
Playing on the top board, ninth seed Harika and China's Xiaobing agreed for a draw after 45 moves.
Initially, Harika, who used Sicilian defence, had a slight edge going in for a two-bishop exchange after 16 moves. After the duo exchanged queens, the Chinese obtained a clear advantage but she lost ground later. The two then agreed for a draw to remain at the top of the table.
On the second board, Grandmaster Humpy cashed in on her Chinese opponent Ruan Lufei's mistakes to win in 77 moves.
After sacrificing a pawn on the 31st move to give room for her other pieces, Humpy used her Knight to take her rival's rook on the 48th. Following an exchange of Queens two moves later, Humpy surged ahead to win in a Rook against Knight ending.
"I made full use of the exchange tactics and took control of the game by the 50th move," Humpy said after her win.
In an all-Chinese affair on the third board, Xu Yuanyuan went for Queen exchange soon after making a Queen-pawn opening and also forced Ang Yu to commit errors regularly. Yuanyuan won in 65 moves.
In the other prominent games, Aarthie Ramaswamy, who beat third seed Wang Pin of China on Tuesday, played impressively to split points with second seed Zhao Xue (CHN), while S Vijayalakshmi overcame China's Tian Tian.
Joining Aarthie and Vijayalakshmi in the second spot with three points each was defending Champion Li Ruofan (CHN), who defeated S Meenakshi.
In the third position with 2.5 points apiece were Ruan Lufei, Wang Yu, Wang Pin, Zhao Xue, Huang Qian, Zhang Jilin (all CHN), Hoang Thanh Trang, Le Kieu Thien Kim (both VIE) and Maria Sergeeva (KAZ).
Results (Fourth round- All Indians unless specified):
Gu Xiaobing (CHN) 3.5 drew with D Harika 3.5; Ruan Lufei (CHN) 2.5 lost to Koneru Humpy 3.5; Xu Yuanyuan (CHN) 3.5 bt Wang Yu (CHN) 2.5; Aarthie Ramaswamy 3 drew with Zhao Xue (CHN) 2.5; Hoang Thanh Trang (VIE) 2.5 drew with Le Kieu Thien Kim (VIE) 2.5; Tian Tian (CHN) 2 lost to S Vijayalakshmi 3; Li Ruofan (CHN) 3 bt S Meenakshi 2; Y Pratibha 1.5 lost to Wang Pin (CHN) 2.5; Maria Sergeeva (KAZ) 2.5 bt Shen Yang (CHN) 1.5; Anupama Gokhale 1.5 lost to Huang Qian (CHN) 2.5; Zhang Jilin (CHN) 2.5 bt J E Kavitha 1.5; Safira Shahnaz 2 drew with Swati Ghate 2; Nguyen Thi Thanh Anh (VIE) 1 lost to Tania Sachdev 2; Koneru Chandrahawsa 1.5 drew with Nisha Mohota 1.5; Saimeera Ravi 1 lost to Bhagyashree Thipsay 2; Eesha Karavade 1.5 drew with Vineetha Wijesuriya (SRI) 1.5; P Priya 2 bt Malinicheva Lidiya (UZB) 0.5; Parveen Syeda Shabana (BAN) 0.5 drew with Swati Mohota 0.5; K Lakshmi Praneetha 0 lost to M R Sangeetha 1.
