Humpy in sight of second GM norm

Koneru Humpy established a lead of 1.5 points over her nearest rivals with a victory in the seventh round in the Third Saturday Grandmasters chess tournament, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

The junior world chess champion now needs just one point from the remaining four games to get her second men's Grandmaster's norm.

Humpy will play with black pieces against IM Orlov Pavle of Yugoslavia in the eighth round. In the ninth round she meets GM Goran Kosanovic, also of Yugoslavia.

Humpy leads the tournament with six points from seven games.

Three players -- Mihajlo Stojanovic (Yugoslavia) , Martinez Lopez (Spain) and Pavle Orlov (Yugoslavia) are in joint second position with 4.5 points.

In her seventh round match, Humpy, playing with white against Dejan Nestorovic of Yugoslavia, won in 25 moves.

Nestorovic, with an Elo rating of 2428, could not recover.

The tournament is a Category-7 GM tournament, where average Elo rating of the tournament is 2415 with 11 rounds. Humpy should get 8.5 points to get her second gm norm.

Twelve players from four countries -- India, Spain, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia -- are participating.

Seventh game:
1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. d4 d5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 dxc4 7. Na3 c3 8. bxc3 c5 9. Bb2 Nc6 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Ncd2 Qb6 12. Ba3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Rfd8 14. e3 Qa6 15. Qc1 Bd5 16. Qb2 Ne4 17. Nb3 b6 18. Rfe1 Rac8 19. Rac1 Nd6 20. Bxd6 Rxd6 21. Bf1 Qb7 22. Nbd2 Rdd8 23. e4 Nxd4 24. Nxd4 Bc6 25. e5 1-0

Source: (www.koneruhumpy.com).

Other reports:
Sixth round: Humpy splits point in 6th round, still in lead
Fifth round: Humpy takes commanding lead
Fourth round: Humpy outplays Dragutin Sahovic
Third round: Humpy regains lead
Second round: Humpy draws, shares lead
First round report: Humpy starts on winning note

Also read:
Humpy wins First Saturday title

Koneru Humpy secures highest ELO rating
Humpy on a high