Hou Yifan wins fifth leg, Humpy still tops

Lopota, Georgia: In spite of a disappointing eighth-place finish in the fifth and the penultimate leg of the FIDE women`s Grand Prix chess tournament, India`s Koneru Humpy is in the top spot, ahead of the winner, Hou Yifan of China, reports Xinhua.

The final leg will be played at Erdenet, Mongolia, from Aug 24 and Humpy will still be starting at the top with 370 points, five more than Hou, and 10 more than Ukrainian Anna Murzychuk. Humpy`s fellow-Andhra player Dronavalli Harika, seeded ninth, did well to finish sixth with six points in the 12-player field. Harika tied for the fifth-sixth positions with Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria on six points, after the two agreed for a quick draw, behind fourth-placed Georgian Nana Dzagnidze (6.5), who drew her last match with Murzychuk. Harika won two rounds, drew eight and lost only one while Humpy won three, lost three and drew five rounds in the Georgian leg. World champion Hou Tuesday added another half point to her tally to take the leg, garnering nine points out of a possible of 11, drawing the last round with Elina Danielian from Armenia. Another Chinese player, Ju Wenjun, and Danielian scored 7 points each, but the Chinese finished runner-up thanks to her win over the Armenian in their match-off.