CHENNAI, July 20: India's top player Koneru Humpy went down to Alexandra Kosteniuk 5-7 of Russia in the final of the fourth leg of the Women's Speed Chess Championships.
Humpy, the world rapid champion, lost the opening game but bounced back to win the next and level the final with some brilliant play.
The two were involved in a close battle and played out interesting games before the Russian, a former world champion, sealed the win against the world No.2.
With the triumph, Kosteniuk qualified for the Super Final against Anna Ushenina of Ukraine on Monday.
While Kopsteniuk finished on top of the league standings with 24 points, Ushenina took the second spot with 22 points ahead of Valentina Gunina (22 points) on the basis of a better tie-break score.
After a first round loss in the opening leg, Humpy played in the third leg and lost in quarterfinal before turning things around in the final leg and reaching the final. She finished seventh with 10 points.
World No.1 Hou Yifan defeated Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran 7.5-2.5 to finish third.
This brought the curtains down on the fourth and final leg of the Grand Prix, with a total of 21 participants. Each of the 21 players participated in three out of four Grand Prix legs. Each GP is a 16-player knockout event.
In each GP leg, every player scores cumulative grand prix points according to the position in the final standings. - PTI
