Padmini Rout continued her fine run in the World Chess Championship by holding eighth seed Zhao Xue to a draw in the first game of the second round on Wednesday in Tehran, reported PTI.
Rout displayed plenty of courage despite playing with black pieces against another higher ranked opponent. The 23-year-old had stunned 25th seed Elina Danielian of Armenia in the previous round. Incidentally, Rout had drawn with Danielian with black pieces in the first round before going on to win with white.
Meanwhile, Dronavalli Harika played out a quick draw with Kazakhstan’s Dinara Saduakassova playing with white. Harika had laboured past Bangladesh’s Shamima Akter Liza in the first round, and progressed through a tiebreak.
Top seed Ju Wenjun of China secured her third victory on the trot. Second seed Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine defeated Russia’s Alina Kashlinskaya.
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