Harika bests Bela Khotenashvili and advances to round 3
Harika and Bela repeated the same opening Caro-Kann Defence, they played in round 2.2. This time Bela had difficulty to find a good square for her light squared bishop and lost a few tempi because of it. Harika developed her pieces usually while Bela's pieces were cramped. The Indian GM sacrificed an exchange and eventually got a winning rook ending. Instead of trying hard, she played too safe and had to settle for a draw.
Here is the entire game:
Harika opted for the Pirc Defence against which Khotenashvili seemed to have landed in uncharted territory. First she lost space and then blundered a bishop on move no.31/
Pogonina played a miniature game in round 2.5 as the kid Zhu Jiner did not handle the KID well in 10 mins + 10 seconds time control.
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Results of round 2
| Ju Wenjun | (CHN) | 1½-½ | Krush Irina | (USA) |
| Zawadzka Jolanta | (POL) | 1½-½ | Koneru Humpy | (IND) |
| Lagno Kateryna | (RUS) | 3-1 | Hoang Thanh Trang | (HUN) |
| Bodnaruk Anastasia | (RUS) | 0-2 | Muzychuk Anna | (UKR) |
| Kosteniuk Alexandra | (RUS) | 3-1 | Ni Shiqun | (CHN) |
| Galliamova Alisa | (RUS) | 2-0 | Goryachkina Aleksandra | (RUS) |
| Muzychuk Mariya | (UKR) | 2½-1½ | Atalik Ekaterina | (TUR) |
| Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim | (UZB) | 2½-1½ | Tan Zhongyi | (CHN) |
| Gunina Valentina | (RUS) | 1½-½ | Ushenina Anna | (UKR) |
| Socko Monika | (POL) | 0-2 | Alinasab Mobina | (IRI) |
| Dzagnidze Nana | (GEO) | ½-1½ | Lei Tingjie | (CHN) |
| Khotenashvili Bela | (GEO) | 1½-2½ | Harika Dronavalli | (IND) |
| Stefanova Antoaneta | (BUL) | 2½-1½ | Saduakassova Dinara | (KAZ) |
| Zhu Jineer | (CHN) | 2-4 | Pogonina Natalija | (RUS) |
| Abdumalik Zhansaya | (KAZ) | 3-1 | Zhao Xue | (CHN) |
| Zhai Mo | (CHN) | 2-0 | Batsiashvili Nino | (GEO) |
