India’s No. 2 D. Harika pushed but could not break the defence of lower-ranked Marie Sebag and had to settle for a second consecutive draw in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix here.
The 29-year-old Indian Grandmaster was also held to a draw by Canal-Sokolsky of France on Tuesday.
At the end of the second round, Harika has one point after two games and faces world champion Ju Wenjun next.
Four of the six games were drawn on the day with only Russia’s Alexandra Goryachkina and Georgian Nana Dzagnidze posting victories to be in joint lead with 1.5 points.
The strong tournament featuring 12 players, including world champion Wenjun, is the third in the series of four Grand Prix from which two with the highest points tally would qualify for the next candidates event.
India’s World No. 2 Koneru Humpy leads the Grand Prix standings after two events with 293 points while Grandmaster Harika is joint fifth with Wenjun (120 points, 1 event).
The results (second round): D. Harika 1 drew with Marie Sebag (Fra) 1; Alexandra Goryachkina (Rus) 1.5 bt Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) 0.5; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) 1.5 bt Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz) 0.5 Ju Wenjun (Chn) 1 drew with Antoneta Stefanova (Bul) 1; Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus) 1 drew with Mariya (Ukr) 1; Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) drew with Pia Cramling (Swe) 1.
