Chess
Monaco Women’s Grand Prix: Humpy trails topper Lagno after Round 5
Humpy played out her third draw in a row as she and Zhongyi Tai shared 0.5 points each.
Indian grandmaster Koneru Humpy
Koneru Humpy remained in the second spot after the end of the fifth round in the Monaco Women’s Grand Prix on Saturday.
Humpy played out her third draw in a row as she and China's Zhongyi Tai shared 0.5 points each. Indian grandmaster now has three points to her credit, half a point behind table topper Kateryna Lagno of Russia.
The other Indian grandmaster in the fray is Harika Dronavalli, who ceased her losing streak in the third round by claiming a draw against Lagno. She remained at the bottom of the tournament following yet another draw against Aleksandra Goryachkina.
Harika now has 1.5 points after three consecutive draws.
Lagno held on to her lead after she was forced to play a draw by Batkhuyag Munguntuul as no player could be separated in the fifth round.
In other matches, Elisabeth Paehtz and Bibisara Assaubayeva, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Sarasadat Khadem also settled for draws.
Khadem and Batkhuyag jointly share the second spot with Humpy. They all have accumulated three points each.
With February 23 being the rest day, no matches are scheduled today.
The tournament winner will be decided on February 27. The top three prizes are €18,000, €13,000, and €10,500, respectively. Alongside the prize money, players will also earn valuable Grand Prix points.
