Tirana: Koneru Humpy suffered her second defeat in six games on Tuesday against defending champion Yifan Hou of China in the Women's World Chess Championship here.
With two losses and four draws so far in the 10-game contest, Humpy is trailing Yifan 2-4.
And now with just four games to go, Yifan has a two-point lead over her Indian opponent.
Yifan yet again capitalised on an erroneous plan by Humpy and went on to record her second win.
The 17-year old Chinese had experienced severe stomach pains the previous night and was immediately rushed to the hospital by the organisers and FIDE officials. The doctors checked her medical condition, but the necessary tests proved there was no other problem, besides psychological pressure.
Humpy, playing with white pieces, came up with a new plan and again had the better position once the opening was over.
She expressed her fears of a draw in the post match conference, "I prepared some line and got a very decent position after the opening. I had two bishops. I wanted to press for a win. At the beginning I had a lot of time but then I was trying to find the best line. I was afraid that some variations would lead to a draw."
As it happened, the advantage slipped out of Humpy's hands in quick time and then in acute time pressure for both players, Yifan managed to snatch the initiative with her offensive manoeuvres.
It was on move 30 that Humpy had her last chance and once she let it slip, Yifan was on top and it took just eight more moves for the Chinese to trap the King.
The seventh game of the 200000 Euros prize money match will be played after the third rest day.
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