FIDE Women's Grand Prix: India's Dronavalli Harika fails to break French Marie Sebag's defence, settles for second consecutive draw

Lausanne: India’s No 2 Dronavalli Harika pushed but could not break the defence of lower-ranked Marie Sebag and had to settle for a second consecutive draw in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix. [caption id=“attachment_3276532” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Dronavalli Harika.Twitter @HarikaDronavali[/caption] The 29-year-old Indian Grandmaster was also held to a draw by Canal-Sokolsky of France on Tuesday. At the end of the second round, Harika has one point after two games and faces world champion Ju Wenjun next. Four of the six games were drawn on the day with only Russia’s Alexandra Goryachkina and Georgian Nana Dzagnidze posting victories to be in joint lead with 1.5 points. The strong tournament featuring 12 players, including world champion Wenjun, is the third in the series of four Grand Prix from which two with the highest points tally would qualify for the next candidate’s event. India’s world No 2 Koneru Humpy leads the Grand Prix standings after two events with 293 points while Grandmaster Harika is joint fifth with Wenjun (120 points, 1 event). Results, Round 2: Dronavalli Harika (IND) 1 drew with Marie Sebag (FRA) 1; Alexandra Goryachkina (RUS) 1.5 beat Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) 0.5; Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) 1.5 beat Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) 0.5 Ju Wenjun (CHN) 1 drew with Antoneta Stefanova (BUL) 1; Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS) 1 drew with Mariya (UKR) 1; Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew with Pia Cramling (SWE) 1.