Will Koneru Humpy will be able to make it? Will she become World Chess Women’s Chess Championship winner? These questions are hard to answer. However, she has bagged the semifinal spot of the tournament after acquiring a much needed draw against China’s Ju Wenjun in the second game of the quarterfinals.Koneru beat Wenjun by 1.5 –0.5 margin. Wenjun who played the white side of a Trompvsky evening tried hard to make Humpy struggle to get correct moves in the middle game and keep her from winning. But Wenjun’s sacrifice of queen for two pieces helped Koneru to reach the draw. At the end of the match it was two rooks versus a queen and a pawn for Humpy and finally Wenjun have to give in and settle for draw after 60 moves. Another Indian in the fray is D Harika who has to play blitz tiebreaker after her second successive draw with Ruan Lufeiof China.
However Humpy has difficult task ahead as she has to face Yifan Hao of China. Humpy has lot to fear as Hao was the same player who ousted her in 2008.
The other quarterfinal match was like the replay of Humpy- Wenjun match as the defeat margin of Hao and Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine match was the same.World Chess Women’s Chess Championship is set to go to Asia as only players from India and China remain.
