Humpy was beaten in tie-break

Ekaterinburg: International Master S. Vijayalakshmi, the lone Indian left in the draw, played out a quick draw with Svetlana Matveeva of Russia in the first game of the pre-quarters (third round) of the World Women’s Chess Championship on Wednesday.

After winning the second round in a tie-breaker, Vijayalakshmi was visibly tired in this first of the two games mini-match and did not try hard with white pieces after employing the Reti Opening.

IM Matveeva, who employed the age-old London System against white’s safe opening, pondered only for a short while before agreeing to draw after only 17 moves.

Apart from Vijayalakshmi, Marie Sebag also played it safe and drew with Qin Kanying of China, while former world women’s champion Maia Chiburdanidze was held by Ju Wenjun of China.

Earlier in the second round, GM Koneru Humpy suffered a shock ouster at the hands of Marie Sebag of France. S. Meenakshi, Vijayalakshmi’s younger sister, had bowed out in the first round.

Humpy suffered a shock 0-2 defeat in the tie-break after drawing both games of the second round played under normal time control.

Vijayalakshmi rallied to beat Lela Javakashvili of Georgia and enter the pre-quarters.