Humpy, Harika in the lead

Two Indians -- top seed Koneru Humpy and ninth seed Dronavalli Harika -- lead with 4.5 points each after the fifth round in the 10th Asian women's chess championship in Kozhikode on Thursday.

Close on their heels is another Indian, WGM S Vijayalakshmi, with four points.

Xu Yuanyuan, Zhao Xue, Gu Xiaobing, Zhang Jilin, Wang Yu (all China) and Le Kieu Thien Kim (VIE) are trailing in the third spot with 3.5 points apiece.

Playing on the top board, joint overnight leader Humpy engaged in Queen's gambit game and sacrificed a pawn on the 20th move to make room for other pieces. Meanwhile, playing black, Gu Xiaobing blundered on the 30th and was trapped on the 41st move.

Harika made a bold move on the 25th after entering into Queen's gambit to launch a fierce attack on her opponent's King side. She continued to maintain her forward march and forced her rival, Yuanyuan, to resign on the 47th move.

Employing the English opening on the third board, Vijayalakshmi made her first attack on the sixth move. In spite of losing pawns at regular intervals, she positioned her major pieces comfortably to win in 55 moves.

The game took an interesting turn after a Queen exchange on the 21st, with the Chennai girl having only two pawns and two rooks, compared to Ruofan's six pawns, a rook and a bishop. However, the Indian WGM made full use of the exchange down in the 26th and forced Ruofan to resign.

WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy failed to cause another upset when seventh seed China's Wang Yu broke her Sicilian defence after sacrificing a bishop to expose her King on the 29th. Running short of time, both players were forced to make quick moves in the closing stages. Aarthie surrendered meekly after 36 moves.

In all-Chinese affairs, second seed Zhao Xue beat compatriot Ruan Lufei on the fifth board, while Zhang Jilin upset third seed Wang Pin in the sixth.

In other important matches, former World junior girls champion and Asian women's champion Hoang Thanh Trang (VIE) was held to a draw by Huang Qian (CHN) after both were engaged in a keen tussle. Kazakhistan's lone challenger, Maria Sergeeva, who adopted Sicilian defence, failed to match the powerful moves of Le Kieu Thien Kim (VIE) and lost in the 40th move.

Among the prominent games in the sixth round tomorrow, leaders Humpy and Harika will meet each other on the top-board, while Vijayalakshmi will taken on Yuanyuan (CHN).