Divya Deshmukh consolidates lead

India's Divya Deshmukh continued her stellar performance on the second day of the Tata Steel Chess tournament by winning all the three rounds played here on Friday.

At the end of day, Deshmukh finished with 5.5 points, followed by the reigning world champion Ju Wenjun at 4 points and Polina Shuvalova with 3.5 points.

There was no stopping Deshmukh as she made it a perfect 3/3 after battling past International Master Vantika Agrawal.

Deshmukh dominated the board and eventually capitalised on a huge queen blunder by her opponent, which led to Agrawal's immediate resignation.

Woman Grandmaster M Koneru Humpy finally brought up her first win, against GM Nino Batsiashvili.

The Indian No 1 pounced on the opportunity and made complete use of her advanced pawn to force the matters in her favour.

WGM Harika Dronavalli drew her game against Wenjun after having chances at one point. GM Irina Krush played out a draw against Shuvalova after the two players repeated a few moves out of the opening.