National Junior 2023 R1-5: Sneha topples Tejaswini

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/09/2023

Sneha Halder (WB) defeated the newly crowned Asian Junior Girls 2023 champion, WIM Tejaswini G (TN). The reigning National Amateur U2300 Women 2023 and National Under-13 Girls 2022 champion, seized her opportunity when Tejaswini miscalculated a tactic and blundered her rook. She could not recover it for the rest of the game and lost. Sneha is the sole leader among girls at 5/5. She is closely followed by Mrittika Mallick (WB), Anishka Vikram (DEL) and Marium Fatima (BIH) at 4.5/5 each. In the 52nd National Junior Open, Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (WB) and Sathvik Adiga (KAR) are the coleaders at 5/5. They will face each other in Round 6 which starts today from 9:30 a.m. IST today. Photos by Prashant Raval unless stated otherwise.

Alekhya and Sathvik emerge coleaders

In the Open event, six players are trailing the leaders by a half point at 4.5/5 each. They are - IM Manish Anto Cristiano F (TN), FM Md. Imran (AP), CM Arjun Adireddy (TN), Vrashank Chouhan (RAJ), Kushal R Jani (GUJ) and Priansh Das (ODI). The eleven-round event has a total prize fund of ₹100000, ₹500000 in Open and Girls section each. Top three prizes are ₹100000, ₹72000 and ₹60000 each.

Sneha Halder (WB) has emerged sole leader in the Girls section 5/5

Om Nagnath - Alekhya, Round 5

Position after 55...Kf5

Black is threatening Qb2# and if you decide to take the a3-pawn then Qa1#. So White must give continuous checks to stay in the game. 54.Qc8+ Kf4 55.Qf8+ Ke4 56.Qe8+ Ke3 57.Qg2 is one of the ways for White to play. The key was to give long range checks to have many options open. 56.Qf7+? reduced the distance and hence reduced the options for White. 56...Kg4 57.Qe6+ Kf4 58.Qf7+ Kg3 59.Qc7+ Kg2 60.Qc6+ Kg1 and White has run out of checks which means checkmate is unstoppable.

Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (WB) registered his fifth win in-a-row

Sathvik - Yash

Position after 36...Ne4??

36...Ne4?? is a blunder. Try to find the beautiful winning combination for White which Sathvik Adiga (KAR, 1754) executed against Yash Bharadia (RAJ, 2000).

Sathvik Adiga (KAR) showcased his sharp play against Yash Bharadia (RAJ) | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Kushal R Jani (GUJ) - Md. Imran (AP): 0.5-0.5

Girls: Sneha - Tejaswini: 1-0

Last year at National Under-15 and Under-17 Girls, Sneha Halder (WB, 1835) faced Tejaswini G (TN, 1905) twice with the black pieces. They traded a win each. This time they faced each other at National Under-19 Girls in the fifth round and for the first time, Sneha had the white pieces.

Position after 15...e5

15...e5 was responded with 16.dxe6 Bxe6 17.Bxa8 Bxg4?? 18.Be4 White managed to save her extra rook. Black could not recover material for the rest of the game and lost in another eleven moves.

Mrittika - Shubhi

Position after 13...Bxh3?

13...Bxh3? is a bold sacrifice. It actually does not yield anything for Black. 14.Nxe5! Nxg3 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.gxh3 d5 17.d4 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Rxe4 Qf6 20.Qh5 Kg7 21.Rae1 and White won the game in another seven moves.

Mrittika Mallick (WB) thwarted a sacrifice to defeat Shubhi Gupta (UP)

For more photos, please click here.

A total of 223 players including 2 IMs in the Open and 129 players including 2 WIMs in the Girls tournament are taking part. The tournaments are organized by Gujarat State Chess Association. They are taking place at Karnavati Club in Ahmedabad, Gujarat from 20th to 28th September 2023. The eleven-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1

Replay Open Round 1-5 games

Replay Girls Round 1-5 games

Open Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	22		Jani, Kushal R	1904	Gujarat	4	½ - ½	4	FM	Md, Imran	2197	AP	6	PGN
2	28		Om, Nagnath Lamkane	1858	MAH	4	0 - 1	4		Alekhya, Mukhopadhyay	2149	WB	10	PGN
3	48		Sathvik, Adiga	1754	KAR	4	1 - 0	4		Bharadia, Yash	2000	RAJ	12	PGN
4	1		Sanket, Chakravarty	2381	WB	3½	½ - ½	3½		Mukund, Hemant Agarwal	1917	Gujarat	20	PGN
5	23		Kartik, Kumar Singh	1901	MAH	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2372	TN	2	PGN
6	29		Priansh, Das	1846	ODI	3½	1 - 0	3½		Anadkat, Kartavya	2177	Gujarat	8	PGN
7	11	CM	Adireddy, Arjun	2057	TEL	3½	1 - 0	3½		Sriram, Adarsh Uppala	1883	TEL	24	PGN
8	13		Vrashank, Chouhan	1985	RAJ	3½	1 - 0	3½		Mithiran, A	1727	TN	60	PGN
9	39		Jval, Saurin Patel	1814	Gujarat	3½	½ - ½	3½		Shah, Jeet	1925	MAH	19	PGN
10	7		Dhyey, Agarwal	2178	Gujarat	3	1 - 0	3½		Jihan, Tejas Shah	1761	Gujarat	46	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	TB1
1	10		Alekhya, Mukhopadhyay			IND	2149	WB	5
	48		Sathvik, Adiga			IND	1754	KAR	5
3	2	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F			IND	2372	TN	4,5
	6	FM	Md, Imran			IND	2197	AP	4,5
	11	CM	Adireddy, Arjun			IND	2057	TEL	4,5
	13		Vrashank, Chouhan			IND	1985	RAJ	4,5
	22		Jani, Kushal R			IND	1904	Gujarat	4,5
	29		Priansh, Das			IND	1846	ODI	4,5
9	1		Sanket, Chakravarty			IND	2381	WB	4
	4		Srihari, L			IND	2207	PUD	4
	7		Dhyey, Agarwal			IND	2178	Gujarat	4
	9	CM	Vivaan, Vijay Saraogi			IND	2152	MAH	4
	12		Bharadia, Yash			IND	2000	RAJ	4
	15		Lad, Mandar Pradip			IND	1959	Goa	4
	19		Shah, Jeet			IND	1925	MAH	4
	20		Mukund, Hemant Agarwal			IND	1917	Gujarat	4
	26		Gaikwad, Manas			IND	1866	MAH	4
	28		Om, Nagnath Lamkane			IND	1858	MAH	4
	33		Vrandesh, Parekh			IND	1839	Gujarat	4
	37		Arshpreet, Singh			IND	1822	HAR	4

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	10		Alekhya, Mukhopadhyay	2149	WB	5		5		Sathvik, Adiga	1754	KAR	48
2	2	IM	Manish, Anto Cristiano F	2372	TN	4½		4½		Vrashank, Chouhan	1985	RAJ	13
3	6	FM	Md, Imran	2197	AP	4½		4½		Priansh, Das	1846	ODI	29
4	11	CM	Adireddy, Arjun	2057	TEL	4½		4½		Jani, Kushal R	1904	Gujarat	22
5	38	CM	Mrithyunjay, Mahadevan	1818	TN	4		4		Sanket, Chakravarty	2381	WB	1
6	4		Srihari, L	2207	PUD	4		4		Om, Nagnath Lamkane	1858	MAH	28
7	40		Rohith, S	1810	TN	4		4		Dhyey, Agarwal	2178	Gujarat	7
8	58	AFM	Sureka, Akshat	1730	KAR	4		4	CM	Vivaan, Vijay Saraogi	2152	MAH	9
9	12		Bharadia, Yash	2000	RAJ	4		4		Vrandesh, Parekh	1839	Gujarat	33
10	74		Boricha, Yohan	1658	MAH	4		4		Lad, Mandar Pradip	1959	Goa	15

Details

Girls Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	10		Sneha, Halder	1835	WB	4	1 - 0	4		Tejaswini, G	1905	TN	6	PGN
2	3		Mrittika, Mallick	2059	WB	3½	1 - 0	4	AFM	Shubhi, Gupta	1761	UP	15	PGN
3	27		Khairmode, Dhanashree	1616	MAH	3½	½ - ½	3½	WFM	Kheerthi, Ganta	2148	TEL	1	PGN
4	13		Anishka, Vikram	1773	DEL	3½	1 - 0	3½		Anushka, Gupta	1675	WB	25	PGN
5	20		Marium, Fatima	1715	Bihar	3½	1 - 0	3½		Sachi, Jain	1756	Delhi	16	PGN
6	29		Swara, Lakshmi S Nair	1601	KAR	3	0 - 1	3	WIM	Mrudul, Dehankar	2059	MAH	2	PGN
7	5		Rindhiya, V	1918	TN	3	0 - 1	3		Keerti, Shree Reddy	1580	TN	34	PGN
8	7	WFM	Bhagyashree, Patil	1879	MAH	3	½ - ½	3		Divyabharathi, Masanam	1596	TN	32	PGN
9	31		Arshiya, Das	1596	TRI	3	0 - 1	3	WCM	Bristy, Mukherjee	1858	WB	8	PGN
10	38		Prasiddhi, Bhat	1543	KAR	3	1 - 0	3		Bhat, Sannidhi Ramakrishna	1767	MAH	14	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	TB1
1	10		Sneha, Halder		w	IND	1835	WB	5
2	3		Mrittika, Mallick		w	IND	2059	WB	4,5
	13		Anishka, Vikram		w	IND	1773	DEL	4,5
	20		Marium, Fatima		w	IND	1715	Bihar	4,5
5	1	WFM	Kheerthi, Ganta		w	IND	2148	TEL	4
	2	WIM	Mrudul, Dehankar		w	IND	2059	MAH	4
	6		Tejaswini, G		w	IND	1905	TN	4
	8	WCM	Bristy, Mukherjee		w	IND	1858	WB	4
	15	AFM	Shubhi, Gupta		w	IND	1761	UP	4
	17		Ishvi, Aggarwal		w	IND	1748	HAR	4
	19		Kanishka, S		w	IND	1716	TN	4
	21		Dakshita, Kumawat		w	IND	1690	RAJ	4
	22		Kashthuri, Bhai R		w	IND	1689	AND	4
	26		Rajanya, Datta		w	IND	1654	WB	4
	27		Khairmode, Dhanashree		w	IND	1616	MAH	4
	34		Keerti, Shree Reddy		w	IND	1580	TN	4
	35		Kale, Shruti		w	IND	1567	MAH	4
	38		Prasiddhi, Bhat		w	IND	1543	KAR	4
19	7	WFM	Bhagyashree, Patil		w	IND	1879	MAH	3,5
	11		Rebecca, Jesumarian		w	IND	1811	TN	3,5

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	13		Anishka, Vikram	1773	DEL	4½		5		Sneha, Halder	1835	WB	10
2	3		Mrittika, Mallick	2059	WB	4½		4½		Marium, Fatima	1715	Bihar	20
3	22		Kashthuri, Bhai R	1689	AND	4		4	WFM	Kheerthi, Ganta	2148	TEL	1
4	2	WIM	Mrudul, Dehankar	2059	MAH	4		4		Dakshita, Kumawat	1690	RAJ	21
5	6		Tejaswini, G	1905	TN	4		4		Khairmode, Dhanashree	1616	MAH	27
6	8	WCM	Bristy, Mukherjee	1858	WB	4		4		Kale, Shruti	1567	MAH	35
7	15	AFM	Shubhi, Gupta	1761	UP	4		4		Prasiddhi, Bhat	1543	KAR	38
8	26		Rajanya, Datta	1654	WB	4		4		Ishvi, Aggarwal	1748	HAR	17
9	34		Keerti, Shree Reddy	1580	TN	4		4		Kanishka, S	1716	TN	19
10	36		Jain, Ashita	1564	Gujarat	3½		3½	WFM	Bhagyashree, Patil	1879	MAH	7

Details

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