Fourth seed Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika was held to a surprising draw by lower ranked Shamima Akter Liza of Bangladesh in the first game of the first round of the Women's World Chess Championship, here.
Harika, who started the first round contest as an overwhelming favourite, tried hard with the black pieces but Shamima was quite up to the task to match the Indian star move-for-move.
In the return game now the Indian will play with white and is likely to press hard for the victory.
International Master Padmini Rout, however, got off to a good start as she played out a draw with Grandmaster Elina Danielian of Armenia, who played white.
Padmini, who had been working hard for the event, will now get a chance with white in the return game and is likely to go all out.
The Championship's opening round had its fair share of upsets and the biggest one was recorded by seasoned Mona Khaled of Egypt, who put it across fifth seed Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia.
The Egyptian will now need to stay afloat with white in the return game and that might just mean the end of the road for Dzagnidze.
Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia was the other star of the first day of the opening round as she beat local favourite Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. Sopiko, who just turned a mother, apparently benefitted from her outing at the Tata Steel tournament, where she played high quality opposition.
Harika faced the Italian opening as black and equalised comfortably. Liza kept on finding moves in the middle game and even after the exchange of queens, the Bangla lady was not only good in defense but also launched the counter attack when it was necessary.
Harika tried till move 85 before the position petered out to a dead-draw.
Padimin's opening preparation came good as she did not have to sweat too hard against Danielian. The English opening led to level play and subsequent exchanges ensured that Padmini remained in the game with equal chances.
The rook and pawns endgame that ensued was a theoretical draw and the peace was signed in 57 moves.
The championship is a 64-player event on a knockout format with two games under classical time control in each round. In case of a tied result the contestants will play games of shorter duration to determine the winner.
The event carries a total prize pool of USD 450000 (approximately Rs. 3 crores).
Complete results: Round 1 game one: Ju Wenjun (Chn) beat Nancy Lane (Aus); Amina Mezioud (Alg) lost to Anna Muzychuk (Ukr); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) beat Sabrina Latreche (Alg); Shamima Akter Liza (Ban) drew with D Harika (Ind); Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) lost to Mona Khaled (Egy); Viktorija Ni (Usa) lost to Valentina Gunina (Rus); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) beat Yaniet Marrero Lopez (Cub); Ayelen Martinez (Arg) lost to Zhao Xue (Chn); Tan Zhongyi (Chn) drew with Sabina Foisor (Usa); Sofio Gvetadze (Geo) lost to Nino Batsiashvili (Geo); Natalija Pogonina (Rus) drew with Zhou Qiyu (Can); Arribas Robaina Maritza (Cub) drew with Shen Yang (Chn); Hoang Thanh Trang (Hun) drew with Nataliya Buksa (Ukr); Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) drew with Elizabeth Paehtz (Ger); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) drew with Zhai Mo (Chn); Mitra Hejazipour (Iri) beat Anastasia Bodnaruk (Rus); Olga Girya (Rus) w/o Foisor Cristina-Adela (Rou); Pham, Le Thao Nguyen (Vie) drew with Lela Javakhishvili (Geo); Pia Cramling (Swe) beat Katerina Nemcova (Usa); Sopiko Guramishvili (Geo) beat Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri);Monika Socko (Pol) drew with Anastasia Savina (Rus) ; Daria Charochkina (Rus) lost to Huang Qian (Chn); Natalia Zhukova (Ukr) lost to Nino Khurtsidze (Geo); Nastassia Ziaziulkina(Blr) drew with Anna Ushenina (Ukr);Elina Danielian (Arm) drew with Padmini Rout (Ind); Melia Salome (Geo) beat Ekaterina Atalik (Tur); Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm) drew with Ni Shiqun (Chn); Olga Zimina (Ita) drew with Bela Khotenashvili (Geo); Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz) beat Marina Marina Nechaeva (Rus); Inna Gaponenko (Ukr) beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus); Deysi Cori (Per) drew with Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus); Zhu Chen (Qat) beat Irine Sukandar Kharisma (Ina).
