Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli continued her winning form as she beat Grand Master Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan in the second round of the Master’s Tournament at the Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival on Tuesday night.
This was here second straight win in the tournament, having defeated compatriot Mithil Ajgaonkar in a tense first round clash.
The world No 9 Indian, playing with white pieces, started off on an aggressive note which led the third seeded Azerbaijani to commit mistakes early into the game. She did not take the foot off the pedal as the game progressed and found the winning move after a long and grueling 56 move game.
“I did not try anything new. I just played a setup which I had practiced long ago, through which my opponent made two mistakes in the initial stages of the game which gave me the edge and I kept pressure throughout the game and slowly my opponent’s position collapsed,” Harika said after her second straight win.
The Guntur girl will next face Grand Master Stupak Kirill of Belarus in the third-round. She will look to keep the momentum going, but will be wary of her opponent as it is their first ever encounter against each other.
“It is satisfying that I beat the third seed of the tournament but I still have seven more games to go and will focus on that,” she added.
