Humpy suffers second defeat; trails Yifan 2-4

Tirana (Albania): Victory continues to elude Grandmaster Koneru Humpy who suffered her second defeat in six games today against defending champion Yifan Hou of China in the Women’s World Chess Championship here. With two losses and four draws so far in the 10-game contest, the Indian is trailing Yifan 2-4. And now with just four games to go, Yifan has a two-point lead to her credit and Humpy will have to come out firing all cylinders to stand a chance of a comeback. [caption id=“attachment_137416” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“With two losses and four draws so far in the 10-game contest, the Indian is trailing Yifan 2-4. Getty Images”]  [/caption] The fortunes of the Indian did not change as Yifan yet again capitalised on an erroneous plan and went on to record her second win in the match. What turned out to be worse for Humpy is the fact that Yifan had spent several hours in the hospital the previous night of the match and yet won. The 17-year-old experienced severe pains in her stomach and was immediately taken to the hospital by the organisers and FIDE officials. The doctors checked her medical condition, but the necessary tests proved there was no other problem, beside psychological pressure. Humpy, playing with white pieces, came up with a new plan and again had the better position once the opening was over. Humpy expressed her fears of a draw in the post match conference, “I prepared some line and got very decent position after the opening. I had two bishops. I wanted to press for a win. At the beginning I had a lot of time but then I was trying to find the best line. I was afraid that some variations would lead to draw.” As it happened, the advantage slipped out of Humpy’s hands in quick time and then in acute time pressure for both players, Yifan managed to snatch the initiative with her offensive manoeuvres. It was on move 30 that Humpy had her last chance and once she let the moment slip, Yifan was on top and it took just eight more moves for the Chinese to cast a checkmate web around Humpy’s King. The seventh game of the 200000 euros prize money match will be played after the third rest day and it will be a ’now-or-never’ situation for Humpy. PTI