Ekaterinburg (Russia): Grandmaster Koneru Humpy drew with International Master Marie Sebag of France in the first match (second round) of the women’s World Chess Championship here.

The draw means Humpy, the highest-rated player in the championship, must come out firing on all cylinders in the return game on Tuesday to proceed to the next round.

If held again, Humpy will slug it out in games of shorter duration in this $4,50,000 prize-money event being played on a knockout basis.

The other remaining Indian, IM S. Vijayalakshmi, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Lela Javakashvili of Georgia in her first game of the second round. It will be curtains for Vijayalakshmi unless she is able to win the return game.

In the first round, Vijayalakshmi’s sister S. Meenakshi was ousted by Russian Tatiana Kosintseva.

Meanwhile, at the top of the table, defending champion Antoaneta Stefanova played a fine attacking game to beat Iweta Radziewicz of Poland. It was an incredible performance by Stefanova on the first table as she cut Radziewicz to size in her favourite Trompovski attack with white pieces.

Also registering a smooth victory was Alexandra Kosteniuk. The Russian girl needed 45 moves to crush Elina Danielian of Armenia who played with white pieces.

The upset of the day was recorded by seasoned Chinese-turned Dutchwoman Peng Zhaoqin, who found some aesthetic endgame tactics to beat veteran GM Pia Cramling. Playing black, Zhaoqin won after 82 moves in the longest game of the day.

Humpy was a touch unlucky not to get the full point after doing most of the hard work against a determined Sebag who played the white side of a Petroff Defence.

Right from the early stages of the middle game, it was clear that only Humpy was pressing for an advantage and Sebag was slowly pushed to the wall even as pieces changed hands at regular intervals. (PTI)