An overambitious K. Humpy paid dearly for her aggressive intent with white and crashed to a disappointing defeat to defending champion Hou Yifan in the third game of the women's World chess championship in Tirana, Albania, on Thursday.
Humpy had looked better prepared in the first two drawn games and appeared keen to press for victory on this day but the ploy backfired. The 37-move victory put Hou Yifan 2-1 ahead in the 10-game match.
The Indian challenger sensed her chances of winning in the Ragozin variation of Queen's Gambit Declined and invested too much time on finding a promising continuation. However, Hou found the answers in much lesser time. As a result, at one point, Humpy was in danger of losing the game on time.
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In the scramble that followed, Humpy failed to find the right continuation in a complex situation. She blundered once, but Hou failed to capitalise on it. Soon, Humpy faltered a second time and this time, the Chinese teenager tightened the noose to score a confidence boosting triumph with black.