Women's Speed Chess Championships: Koneru Humpy, D Harika bow out in quarter-finals as Indian challenge ends

The Indian challenge in the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Speed Chess Championships Grand Prix ended on Thursday with the defeats of World No 2 Koneru Humpy and D Harika in the quarter-finals. Humpy was no match for Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, going down 2-9 while Harika was ousted by World No 1 Hou Yifan of China 3-7 in her last-eight clash. Humpy, who had beaten compatriot R Vaishali in the opening round on Wednesday, fell behind early against Kosteniuk, a former world champion and was beaten comprehensively. Harika was on level terms with Yifan at the start before letting her opponent gain the upper hand and run away an easy winner. Humpy and Harika will feature in the fourth and final leg of the championship beginning on 15 July while compatriot Vaishali has finished her engagements with seven points having reached the semi-final in the first leg, the quarters in the second and an opening round defeat in the third. The Grand Prix consists of four legs, with a total of 21 participants. Each player participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs. Each GP is a 16-player knockout event. In each leg, every player scores cumulative grand prix points according to the position in the final standings. The two players who score the highest number of cumulative points in all three legs qualify for the Super Final to be held on 20 July.