Cap d'Agde (France) Oct 24 (IANS): Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli put up a spirited performance on the second day of the 14th Anatoly Karpov Rapid International Chess Tournament here.

World No.5 Harika on Saturday started the proceedings on a positive note against local favourite and Grand Master Cornette Matthieu.

Playing in the third game of the tournament, she took to a defensive strategy and held off a strong challenge from the higher ranked Matthieu with an ELO rating of 2599 to draw the tie.

With a fairly good start to the day, the Indian took on Spanish Grand Master Muzychuk Anna in her fourth game.

She started on a good note but a few inaccurate moves saw the Spaniard with an ELO rating of 2561 take advantage in due course. Harika could not keep up with the pace of her opponent and she finally had to throw in the towel.

Speaking about her performance, Harika said: "I gave my best but things did not go according to plan and I had to end the day without a win.

"I will try and get back to winning ways in the subsequent rounds and with many more games to go in the tournament, I am hopeful of bouncing back and qualify for the knockout stages,' she added.