Humpy draws with Yifan again

After losing the third game with white pieces, this was a decent comeback by Humpy who was in a difficult position for most part of the match and she eventually got a draw with her second black of the 10-game contest.

With the draw, the third of the contest, Yifan maintained her slender lead of 2.5-1.5. With six games to go, Humpy will have to make amends in quick time if she wants to erase the one point deficit.

Playing the Ruy Lopez open for the first time in the contest, Humpy faced a topical variation and the queens were traded early in the middle game.

Humpy conceded in the post match conference that she thought she stood worse after the 24th move.

"After this move I think White is better in the endgame. I have weak pawns. But the question is how to convert it into a win. It was a tough game, I had to defend a lot," she said.

As the game progressed, Humpy kept herself in contention with some correct defense and Yifan was critical of her play on the 36th move.

"I think I could play better. Maybe I missed some good chance today. For example if I played  36.Rd1 here, I don't know what would happen, but it could be a better continuation," Yifan noted.

Humpy eventually reached a rook and minor piece endgame and exchanged pawns to finally get the half point in 58 moves.

The fifth game of the 2,00,000 Euros championship will be played after the second rest day with Humpy playing black again. This is to ensure that one player does not get advantage of playing a white game after every rest day.
The moves: Yifan Hou - Koneru Humpy

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Nxc5 dxc2 14. Qxd8+ Rxd8 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Be3 Rd5 17. c4 bxc4 18. Rac1 Nb4 19. a3 Nd3 20. Rxc2 Kd7 21. Bd4 Rb8 22. Bc3 c5 23. Nd2 Nxe5 24. f4 Ng4 25. Nxc4 Bf6 26. Re1 Bd4+ 27. Bxd4 Rxd4 28. h3 Nf6 29. Ne5+ Kd6 30. Nf7+ Kd7 31. Ne5+ Kd6 32. Nf7+ Kd7 33. Rxc5 Rxb2 34. Ne5+ Ke8 35. Nf3 Re4 36. Rxe4 Nxe4 37. Re5 Nc3 38. Rxe6+ Kf8 39. Rxa6 Ne2+ 40. Kh2 Nxf4 41. Kg3 Nxg2 42. Re6 h6 43. Ne5 Ra2 44. a4 g5 45. Rxh6 Ne1 46. Rf6+ Kg7 47. Rg6+ Kh7 48. Rxg5 Rxa4 49. h4 Ra3+ 50. Kg4 Ng2 51. h5 Ne3+ 52. Kf4 Nd5+ 53. Kf5 Ra5 54. Rg1 Ra2 55. Ng4 Ra5 56. Ke4 Nc3+ 57. Kd3 Nd5 58. Ke4 game drawn.