Harika leaves compatriot Humpy in her trail to capture Chengdu GP

MUMBAI: The rivalry has always been there, and for the most part of her career Dronavalli Harika has lived in the shadow of Koneru Humpy, her Andhra statemate and

MUMBAI: The rivalry has always been there, and for the most part of her career Dronavalli Harika has lived in the shadow of Koneru Humpy, her Andhra statemate and four years senior on the chess circuit.

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Both have taken a similar path, winning age-group World Championships titles, bagging Grandmaster titles in the open category and representing India in Olympiads and World Championships.

But in the last couple of years the 25-year-old Harika has had better results than Humpy in some of the events they have played together. At the Women’s World Chess Championships 2012, she reached the semifinals while Humpy lost in the second round. At the 2015 Women’s World Chess Championships, Harika bagged bronze while Humpy lost in the quarterfinals.

On Thursday, Harika went one better than Humpy again by winning the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China. Leading the field by half a point going into the 11th and final round, Harika survived some anxious moments against Russia’s Olga Girya before pulling off a draw that sealed her maiden Grand Prix title.

Humpy defeated Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova for her second successive win to join her compatriot on seven points but Harika had a better tie-break. Humpy had to be satisfied with the second spot but is the overall leader going into the final event of the series of five tournaments involving 12 strong players, which will decide the World Championship qualifier.

With this win, Harika also jumped into the fray for the world title and will be confident of her chances in the final Grand Prix tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk in October. Players have to take part in three of five events and the one with most points takes the overall title and bonus prize.

At Chengdu, the turnaround came in the 7th round when Harika defeated Humpy with white pieces. “The win against Humpy was the turning point because she was half point ahead of me,” Harika told HT over the phone from Chengdu on Thursday.

However, she said there was no rivalry between them.

“We are playing (each other) quite often so now we are used to it. For us it is just a tournament, it is like playing any other player. It is not like it is a special competition or something between us, only for viewers it is more interesting to see us playing together and competing against each other. It is a healthy competition,” Harika said.

Harika, who remained undefeated in 11 rounds, said this was the best title of her career so far. “Definitely this was one of the best titles I can say but as per achievements, I regard the World Championship bronze medal much tougher and much more satisfying.”