Nurglul Salimova ended in a draw in the penultimate round of the Challengers Tournament for the Women's World Chess Title, which is being held in Toronto, BTA reports.
In her 13th game on Canadian soil, the Bulgarian - with the white pieces, managed to get out of a very difficult position against the Russian Katerina Lagno, and on the 45th move, the two agreed to split the point.
In this way, the 20-year-old Salimova collected an asset of 5 points, with which she shares the seventh place with the Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk.
Against Lagno, who shares the third place with 6.5 points, Salimova performed well in her debut, but in the mittelspila she allowed herself to lose the initiative and remain with a pawn less. Lagno's position seemed solid enough, but Salimova's bold decision to sacrifice a piece turned out to be the right one. The victim surprised the Russian, who lost a lot of time to think, but in the end, after several inaccurate moves, she gave Salimova a chance, which the Bulgarian took advantage of.
Today Salimova will play with the black pieces with another Russian - Alexandra Goryachkina.
A round before the end, Tan Johnny leads with 8.5 points. She can only be overtaken by her compatriot Lei Tingjie, which means that the women's world title will remain in China for the next two years. It is currently held by Jiu Wenjun, who defeated Lei Tingjie in the last match for the world title.