A nervous D. Harika, facing a must-win situation, got her act together in a 162-move marathon to draw level with China’s Tan Zhongyi 1-1 in their women’s world chess championship semifinal to force rapid tie-break games on Saturday.
After struggling to make good of the chances Zhongyi offered in this six-hour game, Harika did well to reach a position where she had to checkmate her rival with a bishop and a knight in 50 moves, beginning from the 117th move when the last pawn was captured.
Amid mounting tension, Harika got back to the basics of checkmating with a bishop and a knight. When Harika came within one move of delivering a checkmate, Zhongyi resigned.
