Koneru Humpy opened her campaign in the Cairns Cup chess tournament with a win over American teenager Carissa Yip while World champion Ju Wenjun shared the honours in her first round game here on Saturday.
D. Harika, the other Indian in the fray, was held to a draw by Katernya Lango of Russia in 47 moves. Humpy and Dzagnide were the early leaders after posting wins in the first round.
Humpy, the reigning World rapid chess champion, was in for a surprise when the young American came up with her choice of the King’s Indian Defence. She, however, showed the value of experience by exploiting a positional error ruthlessly to win in 50 moves.
The day’s other winner was Nana Dzagnidze, who confidently beat last year’s champion Valentina Gunina after picking up a pawn on move 15.
The 10-payer tournament concludes on February 17.
