Batumi (Georgia), July 14: Indian Grandmasters D Harika and R Vaishali made it to the pre-quarterfinals after getting the better of Tsolakidou Stavroula of Greece and American Carissa Yip respectively in the tie-breaker of the FIDE World Women’s Chess Cup here on Monday.
Harika crashed through the defenses of Stavroula in the second set of tie break games that have 10 minutes for both players while Vaishali was at her best, handing out Yip a defeat in the first set.
With Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh already in the last 16, India can now claim a 25% share of the booty.
However, Grandmaster Vantika Garewal made an exit after losing to Kateryna Lagno of Russia. She showed a lot of grit and determination but in the end the experience of Lagno came in handy.
The last 16 players look like a familiar rivals but the battle is only going to get more intense with three places up for grabs for the next women’s Candidates’ tournament that will decide the challenger for reigning champion Wenjun Ju of China.
Harika was at her usual best not giving away much and she capitalized on some unforced errors to get the better of Stavroula. (PTI)
