Koneru Humpy effortlessly defeated Denise Frick of South Africa while D Harika outplayed compatriot Soumya Swaminathan to move to the second round of the women's World Chess Championship, in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Having had to sweat a little in the first game of the first round, Humpy was terrific in the return game and scored an easy victory to see herself through to the round of 32 in the knock-out championship.
Harika was not far behind, but it was hard work for her against Soumya Swaminathan, who will now have to return home.
The other higher-ranked players also cruised to the second round and topping the list was reigning World champion Yifan Hou of China, who scored easily over Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka.
The sub-continent girl had missed her flight and reached the venue at the last minute but the match against Yifan turned out to be one-sided.
Amongst the fancied, Ju Wenjun of China was the only exception as she suffered a reversal against Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and the two will now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.
Apart from Humpy and Yifan Hao, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia, Zhao Xue of China, Pia Crampling of Sweden, Nadezhda Kosintseva and Valentina Gunina of Russia, Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine and former champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria also completed a 2-0 whitewash against respective opponents.
Humpy faced the Slav defense and stuck to basics in the opening to get tangible advantage. As the Indian girl posted her knight in the center, Denise blundered a couple of pawns and was never in the game. Humpy finished the proceedings in just 26 moves.
Harika made use of her white pieces to good effect against Soumya in an English opening game. After attaining a playable position in the middle game, Soumya went wrong with an erroneous plan and handed Harika initiative.
By simply improving her position, Harika caused some damage to black and Soumya ran short of time before making the decisive error. The game lasted 33 moves.
The US $450000 prize-money championship will be reduced to 32 players from 64 in the next round and more fighting matches will ensue in the rounds to come. Those who return home after the first round will be richer by US $3000.
Results Round 1:
Sachini Ranasinghe (Sri) lost to Yifan Hou (Chn) 0-2; Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Denise Frick (Rsa) 2-0; Anna Muzychuk (Slo) beat Amina Mezioud (Alg) 2-0; Natalia Khoudgarian (Can) lost to Zhao, Xue (Chn) 0-2;Kateryna Lahno (Ukr) beat Mona Khaled (Egy) 2-0;Melissa Castrillon Gomez (Col) lost to Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) 0-2; Valentina Gunina (Rus) beat Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 2-0; Pia Cramling (Swe) beat Ghader Pour Shayesteh (Iri) 2-0; D Harika (Ind) beat Soumya Swaminathan (Ind) 1.5-0.5; Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) beat Ju Wenjun (Chn) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) beat Marina Romanko (Rus) 2-0; Sopiko Khukhashvili (Geo) beat Elena Danilian (Arm) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Anna Ushenina (Ukr) beat Deysi Cori (Per) 1.5-0.5; Anna Zatonskih (Usa) beat Carolina Lujan (Arg) 1.5-0.5; Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) beat Tatev Abrahamyan (Usa) 1.5-0.5; Marie Sebag (Fra) beat Irina Berezina (Aus) 1.5-0.5; Madina Davletbayeva (Kaz) lost to Tatiana Kosintseva (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Guo Qi (Chn) lost to Natalia Zhukova (Ukr) 0.5-1.5; Nino Khurtsidze (Geo) beat Yelena Dembo (Gre) 1.5-0.5; Huang Qian (Chn) drew with Shen Yang (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Li Ruofan (Chn) drew with Irina Kruch (Usa) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Ingrid Aliaga Fernandez (per) lost to Viktorioja Cmilyte (Ltu) 0.5-1.5; Svetlana Matveeva (Rus) drew with Natalija Pogonina (Rus) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Alisa Galliamova (Rus) drew with Ekaternia Kovalevskaya (Rus) 1-1 goes to tie-break.
