Cap d'Agde, Oct 27 : Grand Master Harika Dronavalli played a hard-fought 87-move draw against Marie Sebag of France to qualify for the 14th Anatoly Karpov rapid international chess tournament semi-finals here on Thursday.

She had the advantage of playing with white but had to use all her defensive skills against Marie Sebag to get away with a crucial half point.

Harika is on 6.5 points after her penultimate league game and shared the joint fourth place with Romain Edouard of France. 

She will now take on Russia's Anatoly Karpov in the knock out stage on Friday.

Commenting about her upcoming match, Harika said: "I know it won't be easy. But I will go in with a positive mind and try to pounce on any opportunity that I get."