Humpy draws again; remains joint Lead with 3 others

Differdange, Luxembourg, July 13 (UNI) Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy marshalled her troops well to hold Czech Grandmaster Petr Velicka and share a three-way lead in the 7th round game at the Kaupthing Open Chess Meet being played here at Woiwer Sports Complex.

Humpy having the advantage of white pieces opened her account with Nf3, Velicka in turn replied with d5 and later the game was fought on Reti Opening.

Humpy took almost an hour to play the first 11 moves. In the middle game, however, she got into trouble after playing b5. With great difficulties she was able to restructure her pieces.

On the 22nd move Humpy's king was attacked by Bojlov's Rook which was averted with the Rooks getting exchanged and the game looked to be heading for a draw.

With both the Grandmasters in joint lead in the tournament, they didn't want to take any chance and settled for a draw on the 30th move.

''Today I played Reti Opening. Usually, I play Queen Pawn. After the opening I played Qf4 on the board and I think it was quite interesting but my b5 move was a mistake I should have played Rb1 and maintained Queen side pawn Structure. Later in the middle game I was in trouble but he just missed it and exchanged Rooks and thereafter we had just Queen vs Bishop which is dead draw'' Humpy told UNI after her drawn game.

On the second table Viktor Erdos and Nenad Sulava also fought a tough battle in the Queen's Pawn Game. With Humpy-Velicka's game drawn, Erdos tried hard to win the game but Sulava did not allow that to happen and in the end Erdos, agreed for a draw.

''My opponent has the winning combination but somehow I managed to hold the position and I think I played one of the best game of my life'' Erdos said.

Meanwhile, Frenchman Tigran Gharamian defeated Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium and with 5.5 points joined the 6th Round leaders on the First Place. He will now play with White pieces against Koneru Humpy.

The other Indian in the fray Rohit G played a good Karokan game against Icelander Snorri Bergsson and carved out a win the game to take his score to 4. 5 points.

''There was nothing special in this game. My opponent played badly. I also made some mistakes which he could not notice and in the end I got an opportunity to win'' Rohit said after the match was over.

Standing after 7th Round: 1-4 Koneru Humpy, Petr Velicka, Victor Erdos, Tigran Gharamian Pairing 8th Round Top Boards: Tigran Gharamian vs Koneru Humpy Petr Velicka vs Viktor Erdos Nenad Sulava vs Hanne Stefansson Sebestia Siebrecht vs Gerhard Schebler UNI