Divya Deshmukh gets the better of Salimova

On a day that saw top seed Koneru Humpy being held to a draw by compatriot and fifth seed R. Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh proved the lone winner for India at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess at Amanora-The Fern in Pune.

Divya, who is playing in her home State of Maharashtra, won against Bulgaria’s Nurgyul Salimova. The opening round also saw the fourth player from the host, D. Harika, going down to second seed Zhu Jiner of China.

Except the Humpy-Vaishali encounter, all the games produced decisive results, with Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia and Polina Shuvalova of Russia posting victories.

The results (first round): Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mng) bt Salome Melia (Geo); Zhu Jiner (Chn) bt D. Harika; Alina Kashliskaya (Pol) lost to Polina Shuvalova (Rus); Nurgyul Salimova (Bul) lost to Divya Deshmukh; R. Vaishali drew with Koneru Humpy.

Second-round pairings: Melia v Humpy; Divya v Vaishali; Shuvalova v Salimova; Harika v Kashlinskaya; Munguntuul v Zhu.