NewzVille Sports Desk
GM Lei Tingjie made a strong bid for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup by winning the first game of her quarterfinal match against GM Nana Dzagnidze. The game ended dramatically when Dzagnidze overstepped the time limit.
After the victory, Lei sai, “I think today I played quite horribly, but the position was quite complicated. I spent a lot of time thinking, while my opponent developed her pieces very quickly.”
With the win, Lei Tingjie now needs only a draw in the second game to secure her place in the final four.
One of the other favourites to win the Cup, India’s top Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, pulled ahead in her two-game match against IM Song Yuxin.
“It was a very complex game, I wasn’t too sure about playing this position because she seemed very well-prepared, but I decided to take the risk anyway,” Humpy said after the match.
The other two games of the round ended in draws. The four encounters will ultimately decide who advances in the World Cup and secures one of the three coveted spots in the Candidates Tournament—the next step toward the World Championship.
