Chennai, December 03: Top seed IM Dronavalli Harika and two time National Champion IM Tania Sachdev began their campaign at the 36th National Women Premier Chess Championship on a positive note by scoring easy wins here today.
Harika defeated P Priya while Tania got the better of national sub-junior Champion R Bharathi.
Out of the eight decisive games played in this round, five players won with Black pieces.
The top board game between Priya and Harika saw a Bishop’s opening employed by former. Harika played the thematic break in the centre with d5 on the twelfth move, gaining control over the central ‘d’ file.
Priya allowed doubling of her own pawns to open the ‘f’ file for a desperate attack against Harika’s King, which was easily nullified.
Harika controlled the whole board effectively to gain a valuable point.
–PTI