Chennai, Jul 9 (PTI) The Indian challenge in the third leg of the FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championships Grand Prix ended on Thursday with the defeats of world no.2 Koneru Humpy and D Harika in the quarterfinals.

Humpy was no match for Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, going down 2-9 while Harika was ousted by world No.1 Hou Yifan of China 3-7 in her last eight clash.

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Humpy, who had beaten compatriot R Vaishali in the opening round on Wednesday, fell behind early against Kosteniuk, a former world champion and was beaten comprehensively.

Harika was on level terms with Yifan at the start before letting her opponent gain the upperhand and run away an easy winner.

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Humpy and Harika will feature in the fourth and final leg of the championship beginning on July 15 while compatriot Vaishali has finished her engagements with seven points having reached the semifinal in the first leg, the quarters in the second and an opening round defeat in the third.

The Grand Prix consists of four legs, with a total of 21 participants. Each player participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs. Each GP is a 16-player knockout event.

In each leg, every player scores cumulative grand prix points according to the position in the final standings.

The two players who score the highest number of cumulative points in all three legs qualify for the Super Final to be held on July 20.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)