Humpy takes commanding lead

Koneru Humpy established a lead of 1.5 points over her nearest rivals with strong victories in the fourth and fifth rounds in the Third Saturday Grandmasters chess tournament, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

The junior world chess champion now needs another four points from the remaining six rounds to get her second men's Grandmaster's norm

Humpy leads the tournament with 4.5 points from five games.

Four players -- Mihajlo Stojanovic (Yugoslavia) , Martinez Lopez (Spain), Goran Kosanovic (Yugoslavia) and Pavle Orlov (Yugoslavia) are in joint second position with three points.

In her fifth round match, against Stojanovic Mihajlo of Yugoslavia, Humpy started with Reti opening, with Whites, where Stojanovic gave up his Queen for rook, bishop and a pawn. The material was equal but white enjoys more freedom in the position and obtained a pawn on Queen side. When Humpy threatened with Queen, the pawn black gave up exchange and lost the game in 35 moves.

In her fourth round match, Humpy played with black against Dragutin Sahovic of Yugoslavia, wherein she played a spectacular game and won in 27 moves with Queen's Indian defence.

The Bank of Baroda-sponsored Woman Grandmaster from Vijayawada, playing with black pieces, employed Queens's Indian defence and pulled off a surprise on the 11th move by playing c5.

Dragutin, with an Elo rating of 2387, could not recover.

The game went on normal lines until Humpy played the 11th move C5, which was a novelty. White's 12th move Qb3 was doubtful. He could have tried 12. Dc6-Dc6 13. B4-C5 to get equality. White made a mistake by playing Ne4 on the 16th move. Humpy's 21 Nd5 was another good move to start a combination. White's 26th move Rd2 was a blunder and resigned immediately.

The tournament is a Category-7 GM tournament, where average Elo rating of the tournament is 2415 with 11 rounds. Humpy should get 8.5 points to get her second gm norm.

Twelve players from four countries -- India, Spain, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia -- are participating.

Source: (www.koneruhumpy.com).

Other reports:
Fourth round: Humpy outplays Dragutin Sahovic

Third round: Humpy regains lead

Second round: Humpy draws, shares lead

First round report: Humpy starts on winning note

Also read:
Humpy wins First Saturday title

Koneru Humpy secures highest ELO rating
Humpy on a high