Harika wins first game in Chinese chess league

India's young Grand Master Harika Dronavlli continued her brilliant run by winning her second game in the Chinese A Division Chess League here on Sunday.

Playing for Team Shandong, she beat Ni Shiqun of Team Tianjing to put her side in a sting position after two days. Harika comfortably drew her opening game against Qi Guo of Team Jiangsu.

"I started today with black and immediately guided the game to a complicated position. My opponent made a few mistakes and I pounced on them to extract a victory in 26 moves. I am very happy with the way I played," she said, shortly after the win.

Pentala Harikrishna, India's other Grand Master in the fray in the elite tournament, also won his game against Zen Chongsheng of Team Guangdong. Harikrishna is representing Team Shanghai.

Harika will take on Team Hangzhou's Shengxin Zhao and Harikrishna will be taking on Yu Yangyi of Team Beijing on Monday.

The Chinese Chess League is an annual elite tournament, comprising of 12 teams. All of China's top players and a number of foreign players have assembled in Jiaxing for this event.

The league is played from April to December, lasting 22 rounds in six sessions of three to four days each. The current leg will end on July 26. Each match is played over five boards, with women playing on two of them.

--IANS

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