Harika loses again at Isle of Man chess meet

Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli fought valiantly but lost to Hungarian GM and WGM Anna Rudolf in the fifth round of the Isle of Man International chess tournament.

The World No.10 Indian, playing with white pieces on Wednesday, started off aggressively to put her female opponent under immense pressure but couldn't convert it to a win as the Hungarian launched a comeback from a bad position and took the game away from her.

After her second loss on the trot, Harika said: "I was clearly in a better position in the initial stages of the game but took a lot of time to play my moves and in time trouble I played a few bad moves which equalised the equation."

With time running out, the lass from Guntur made one last mistake which led to the eventual loss.

"The few panicked moves in the time trouble then led the game out of my control and I could not save it later," Harika said.

After five rounds in the tournament, which has a formidable field of 160 players, Harika is tied fifth with 2.5 points from two wins, two losses and one draw.

She will take on another female opponent, English IM Jovanka Houska, for her sixth-round encounter later on Thursday, as she looks to bounce back from the losses and move up the rankings table.

--IANS

gau/dg