The splendid start provided by Koneru Humpy went in waste after blunders by Swati Ghate and D Harika saw India settling for a draw with Vietnam in the second round of the Women's chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy.
The Indian eves looked set for a 3-0 victory after Humpy did the early damage on the first board but subsequent mistakes by Ghate and Harika produced the 1.5-1-5 result.
Humpy displayed her class against Nguyen Thi Thanh An who was outplayed in a Queen pawn opening game playing white.
The Indian lured the Vietnamese girl into sacrificing a Bishop on the 16th move and when she played it hoping for an attack against the King, Humpy digested the offered material and unleashed her counter-attack in quick time.
Guiding her Bishop and Queen in missile-like fashion, Humpy won in just 27 moves.
On the second board, Hoang Thi Bao Tram did not get a good position out of the opening playing black and the trend favoured Harika in the middle game as well.
However, the young Women Grandmaster did not take advantage of the situation and was on the defensive in a Opposite coloured Bishop endgame. Eventually, the peace was signed after 88 moves.
Swati Ghate suffered an unexpected loss on the third board as Mary Ann Gomes was rested for the second day running.
Le Thanh Tu scored the equaliser for Vietnam after Swati went for an erroneous plan and got her queen trapped in the middle of the board in this 36-mover.
In the next round, the 9th seeded Indians, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the opening encounter, meet Croatia.
