Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli suffered a defeat against French Grand Master Laurent Fressinet after toiling it out for a massive 76 moves in the fourth round of the Isle of Man International Chess Tournament, late here on Tuesday night.
Both the players started off wary of each other’s attacking prowess and were hesitant to open up the game in the initial stages of the game.
The World No. 10 Indian, playing with black pieces, tried to put her opponent under pressure but Laurent was at his defensive best and evaded the situations tactfully to turn the tables and pile on the pressure on his opponent.
“I tried to put him under pressure but my opponent slowly outplayed my moves,” Harika said.
Although, she had an opportunity to draw the game on the 31st move, she was forced to maneuver to a different position which opened up the gates and put her under immense pressure in the marathon game.
“I had a good chance to sign a truce on move 31 but I missed a tactical shot which would have led to a direct draw and after that I tried hard to save the game but could not do so after a really long game,” Harika further conceded.
After the end of four rounds, Harika has lost just one game, drawn one and won two to be tied at third place in this formidable field of 160 players.
The lass from Guntur will take on Hungarian FM and WGM and a proponent of French defence, Anna Rudolf, for her fifth-round encounter and will look to bounce back from her loss.