Maria nails second chess duel draw<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Maria Lucia accepted a 77th move draw proposed
\nby her opponent, Georgia's woman grandmaster Nana Alexandria, in
\ntheir third chess duel in Surabaya on Sunday. The draw, the
\nsecond in a row of their four-match battle scheduled to end
\nyesterday, resulted in a 2-1 lead for Nana.<\/p>\n
Maria, Indonesia's 1991 Asian Junior Chess Champion, had more
\ntime than six-time former Olympic champion Nana during the
\nadditional one hour given to them after their first one-hour time
\nframe ran out. Maria had five minutes left and Nana, two.<\/p>\n
But Maria said she had to accept the draw offer, because it
\nwould not be possible for her to cash in on her three-minute time
\nadvantage to nail a victory. This was confirmed by international
\njudge Mukmin Panggabean. \"In the end, they would draw anyway. A
\ntime difference of three minutes meant nothing. Both were short
\non time,\" Panggabean said.<\/p>\n
At the 77th move, Nana moved her queen to d2 in order to hedge
\nher pawn from being captured by Maria's queen. Maria answered the
\nprotective move by putting her queen to a1 in order to launch a
\ncheckmate. This was the point at which Nana proposed a draw.<\/p>\n
During the game, Nana fully took advantage of playing white
\npieces. Having built a solid Slavia footing early in the game,
\nNana relentlessly pressed Maria with her attacks. Things got
\nworse for Maria, who could almost do nothing but defend, when she
\nblundered at the 30th move and lost her c6 pawn.<\/p>\n
Nana kept on pressing. Maria, meanwhile, kept on finding a way
\nout of Nana's attacks. It was at the 56th move that Maria, after
\na successful circumventing run, finally captured Nana's a5 pawn
\nwith her queen, thereby reestablishing the equilibrium.<\/p>\n
\"The 56th move was the point where Maria's play began to come
\nalive,\" noted Panggabean. Nana said she played a bit too careful,
\nwhich she thought she had to after observing that Maria became
\nmore matured and calm. It was the second marathon result the two
\nwomen have been involved in since Saturday, where they agreed to
\na standoff at the 62nd move. (arf)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/maria-nails-second-chess-duel-draw-1447893297",
"image": ""
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