K. Humpy shot herself in the foot in a desperate bid to force an error from champion Hou Yifan under time-pressure and lost the sixth game of their women's World chess championship match at Tirana, Albania, on Monday.
The second defeat for Humpy with white pieces gives Yifan a 4-2 lead.
Humpy seized a minor edge in the middle game of the Queen's Gambit Declined game. Armed with a bishop pair against Yifan's bishop and knight, Humpy was expected to gain control of the strategic squares once the queens were off the board.
Yifan continued accurately but had under three minutes to make 11 moves at one stage. But it was Humpy who failed to find the best continuation and faced some anxious moments after 32 moves. Two moves later, Yifan gained a kingside pawn to put the Indian in trouble.
Humpy cracked under pressure and committed two blunders in succession to give Yifan an easy opportunity to force a checkmate in two moves.
Humpy saw the inevitable and resigned.
