Grandmaster D Harika missed out on a very difficult yet golden opportunity to advance to the semi-finals after going down to Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia in the second game of the two-games mini-match in the World Women's chess championship here.
Having won the first game of the match, Harika needed just a draw to make it to last-four stage but as luck would have it, the Indian fell under pressure right from the start in the second game and did not quite recover.
For Dzagnidze, it has turned out to be a good opportunity now as both players start the tiebreak games of shorter duration with scores tied.
The biggest upset of the championship was recorded by ninth seed Tan Zhongyi of China as she won a fine game with black pieces to oust compatriot and top seed Ju Wenjun.
These two had drawn the first game of the match.
Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia was the other winner of the day as she overpowered Ni Shiqun of China in a finely crafted endgame. The Russian won by 1.5-0.5 margin to set up a semifinal clash with Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, who only had to hold Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria to move to the next round.
Out of the four quarterfinals, only Harika's match is stretched to the tiebreak stage and the Indian will play a couple of 25 minutes games with a 30 seconds increment against Dzagnidze. If the scores are still tied two games with 10 minutes apiece will be played and if the tie persists two blitz games will follow a final Armageddon game to determine the winner in the USD 450000 championship.
For Harika it was near and yet so far situation. Contrary to expectations, Dzagnidze chose a very solid opening as white and gave nothing away while waiting for her chances. Harika fell a bit under time pressure and had to part with a pawn in the middle game and that was exactly when a very difficult-to-spot chance came her way.
A piece sacrifice would have saved the day but even the best players in the history of the game would have been proud to find that. As it happened, Harika missed it and was eventually forced to call it a day in the ensuing rooks and pawns endgame.
The tiebreaker is expected to be a cracker of a contest as Harika has shown some sublime form in the faster version. The Indian has so far won all her matches in tiebreaker only.
Results quarterfinal: Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) beat D Harika (Ind) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) beat Ni Shiqun (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Ju Wenjun (Chn) lost to Tan Zhongzyi (Chn) 0.5-1.5); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) 0.5-1.5.
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