St Louis (US), Feb 17 (UNI) India's woman chess Grand Master Koneru Humpy won the Cairns Cup tournament, after a draw against compatriot Dronavalli Harika in the ninth and final round here.
Humpy, who was crowned world champion in the last week of December 2019, finished the tournament with six points on Sunday.
The 32-year-old needed only a draw in the last round to at least tie for the first place and be in contention for the top prize.
Humpy secured the draw late, without much difficulty by playing a solid line of Four knights opening against Harika.
Reigning world champion Ju Wenjun finished second with 5.5 points after winning her final round game against Russia's Alexandra Kosteniuk (5 points). Kosteniuk ended fourth in the tournament. Harika finished tied fifth with 4.5 points.
After this win, Humpy would be gaining five ELO rating points (the basis for international rankings) and moving to number 2 in the world list.
She is now aiming to perform well in the Grand Prix in Italy in May, which is her next big event.
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