Negi starts with a draw

Parimarjan Negi took his position at the chessboard ten minutes before his opponent Kateryna Lahno arrived for the first match of the Amity Grandmasters challenge, but if he thought this would give him a headstart, he was proved wrong.
The first of eighteen battles between the world8217;s youngest Grandmaster and the youngest GM among women was fiercely fought, and perhaps the end result of a draw summed up the course of the match.
Parimarjan, playing with black pieces, said he was satisfied with the draw. 8220;She surprised me with her opening move, I was expecting something different. I felt I didn8217;t play as well as I should have. She had her chances, but she didn8217;t exploit them, though she did have better play on the whole,8221; said Parimarjan, speaking after the match.
8220;I don8217;t think a draw is too bad, playing as I was with black pieces,8221; he added.
Lahno, though, felt she could have clinched victory from this one.
8220;I was in a better position for a large part of the match, I could have won this one. I can8217;t really pinpoint exactly where my game was lacking,8221; was what Lahno had to say.
The Ukrainian8217;s coach, Ruslan Scherbakov, also stated that Lahno had an edge over her opponent. 8220;She definitely had her chances in this match. She just made a few inaccurate moves. Tomorrow would be tough, since she will be playing with black pieces, but then, it8217;s a new day, and anything can happen.8221;