Grandmaster Koneru Humpy marched her way into the semi-finals after beating Woman Grandmaster Xu Yuhua of China in the second game of the quarter-finals of the Women's World Chess championship at the City Chess complex in Elista (Kalmykia), Russia on Sunday.
Humpy, who needed just a draw, completed a 2-0 whitewash by displaying gritty chess in the endgame, when her opponent was only hoping to split points.
With the win, Humpy settled scores with Xu Yuhua, who had beaten the Indian 1.5-0.5 in the semi-final of the last World Cup at Hyderabad and also won the title there.
Other three quarter-finals were dragged to the first stage of tie-break games as none of the leaders could keep their lead.
Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria was taken to task by some very powerful pieces-play by world Junior Girls Champion Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia and succumbed to her tamely, former World Women's champion Maia Chiburdanidze could not match the attacking skills of Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania and Ketino Kachiani-G of Germany succumbed to the exploits of Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia.
Humpy reverted to her pet Caro Kann defence in this crucial game. "It had playing on my mind that she had a plus score against me, but after winning the first game I was determined not to let it slip," she said.
Xu Yuhua was at some advantage as the middle game surfaced but Humpy hung in there with precise defence and waited patiently. Yuhua did everything right for quite some time but eventually erred with a breakthrough on the king side that neutralised white's positional edge.
"I think she hurried with the king side breakthrough, perhaps she should have prepared a little more for it," Humpy noted.
When a flurry of exchanges left Humpy with a slightly uncomfortable king she was compensated by a dangerously passed pawn that finally laid the bait which Yuhua fell for.
Soon after the Indian had an extra rook while her opponent struggled for a draw and though Humpy had to return the extra material the result was never in doubt. The longest game of the day lasted 90 moves.
"I knew that a draw was enough naturally, but I played according to the demand of the position which certainly offered me much better chances," commented a beaming Humpy when asked about why she did not take an easier route to semi-finals.
Georgian Nana Dzagnidze turned a 42-move duel decisively in her favour as she started knocking down the weak pawns of Stefanova.
Like Dzagnidze, Viktorija Cmilyte also had to win against Maia and she achieved the desirable result in style, putting in a sterling performance with her white pieces. Chiburdanidze could not pose a serious resistance after her king side was dismantled in the early middle game. This game also lasted 42 moves.
Kovalevskaya got lucky, thanks to some real lackluster play by Kachiani in the middle game who blew away a balanced position.
The Russian seized control in the queen and knights endgame and caught Kachiani unawares in a tactical shot.
Winning a piece, Kovalevskaya clinched the issue in just 35 moves.
Results Game 2 quarter-finals (overall results at the end):
Xu Yuhua (Chn) lost to Koneru Humpy (Ind) 0-2; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) beat Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Viktorija Cmilyte (Ltu) beat Maia Chiburdanidze (Geo) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Ketino Kachiani-G. Lost to Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus) 1-1 goes to tiebreak.