Humpy draws with Malakhatko; shares lead

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Differdange (Luxembourg) July 12 : Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy marshalled her troops well to hold Belgian Grandmaster Malakhatko and share a three-way lead after the sixth round at the Kaupthing Open Chess Meet being played here at Woiwer Sports Complex.

Playing with black pieces, Humpy replied with Nf6 to his opponent Vadim Malakhatko's opening of day 4 and later the game went towards Queen's Gambit Declined Ragozin variation.

Humpy had trouble in the opening on the queen side and tried hard for equality. In the middle game, she exchanged a strong knight on the e5 and somehow managed to equalise. Once the position on the board looked equal, she offered a draw which Malakhatko readily accepted.

''Today I played Ragozin with black pieces. After the opening, I had some trouble on the Queen Side but I manage to exchange the strong knight on e5 and later the position was almost equal for me.

I thought draw will be fine so I offered the draw which Malakhatko gladly accepted,'' Humpy told UNI