Pune, Apr 17 (PTI) Ace Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy once again demonstrated her strength in positional play as she defeated Polina Shuvalova of Russia in the fourth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix here on Thursday.

China’s Zhu Jiner, the second highest rated player behind Humpy in this tournament, scored another impressive victory against Poland’s Alina Kashlinskaya, her third one here to emerge as the sole leader with 3.5 points.

Divya Deshmukh rallied beautifully in a long game that lasted the entire duration to score victory over Melia Salome. Both Humpy and Divya are now within striking distance of Jiner, a mere half point distancing them from the Chinese.

Dronavalli Harika appeared to be on the right path to victory for a long time against compatriot Vaishali Rameshbabu. But the game petered into a draw at the most exciting stage with Harika forcing a perpetual check.

In another decisive result, Nurgyul Salimova defeated Munguntuul Batkkhuyag in a Caro-Kann game. Harika, Munguntuul and Polina have tallied two points each.

Friday will see an important all-Indian clash between Humpy and Harika. Divya will take on Polina in the fifth round on Friday.

Divya opted for the Caro-Kann defence exchange variation against Melia with the Indian enjoying a slight edge for most part of the game.

The transition to the ending where each had a queen, double rooks had Divya romping home as the winner after 70 moves.

Interestingly Humpy did not opt for one of her favourite defences — the Petroff Defence — and it was an Italian Opening game between her and Polina Shuvalova, the third highest rated player in the fray.

A tentative pawn push by Polina on the eighth turn had Humpy breathing easy. The queens were exchanged early on the 12th move. The players preferred to exchange most pieces at regular intervals and Humpy managed to improve her position with the passage of time and moves.

Her connected pawns and a rook infiltrating onto the seventh rank were signs that Humpy was on the right path to victory.

By the 26th turn, Humpy seemed perfectly perched to carve a neat victory after the players reached an ending with double rooks.

“It was a comfortable game,” summed up Humpy modestly.

The game lasted 37 moves.

Vaishali Rameshbabu played the Grunfeld Defence defence against Harika and the latter held advantage for a long time.

Vaishali, however, refused to be bogged down and put up a spirited defence, thwarting Harika’s attempts to win.

On the 34th turn, Harika probably failed to find a promising continuation and the game abruptly ended in a draw.

Results of Round 4: IM Melia Salome (1) lost to IM Divya Deshmukh (3); IM Shuvalova Polina (2) lost to GM Koneru Humpy (3); GM Dronavalli Harika(2) drew GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.5); IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (2) lost to IM Salimova Nurgyul (1.5); GM Zhu Jiner (3.5) bt IM Kashlinskaya Alina (2). PTI PDS PDS ATK