MPL 47th National Women R6-7: Divya Deshmukh emerges sole leader 6.5/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 01/03/2022

WGM Divya Deshmukh (MAH) defeated her co-leader WIM Sakshi Chitlange in Round 6. The double IM-norm holder defeated IM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) in Round 7 to become clear sole leader at MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship 2022. Divya is now a full point ahead of the field. Six women are at 5.5/7. They are - IM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB), WIM Priyanka Nutakki (AP), IM Vaishali R (TN), WGM Pratyusha Bodda (AP), IM Padmini Rout (PSPB) and WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB). Divya will face the top seed Vaishali in the penultimate round. Round 8 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST. Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Six women in the chase

The sixth round witnessed six decisive games among top ten boards. White won in all of them. The seventh round had seven decisive games and Black won in four of them.

WGM Divya Deshmukh beat WIM Sakshi Chitlange and IM Bhakti Kulkarni to gain sole lead | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Round 6: Divya - Sakshi: 1-0

The All-Maharashtra battle between WGM Divya Deshmukh and WIM Sakshi Chitlange was convincingly won by the former.

Position after 23.Nd6

23.Nd6 allows the knight to be firmly placed as it is tactically defended.

Position after 28.Ne1

Black had to play 28...a4 to continue the fight. She did it after 28...Ke6 29.Nd3 a4. It was too little too late by then.

Vaishali - Priyanka K: 0.5-0.5

WIM Priyanka K (TN) had a very small window of opportunity in the endgame against IM Vaishali R (TN). The bishop vs knight endgame lasted for 45 moves which is more than 50% of the game.

Position after 49.Bd1

Try to find out what Black could have done after 49.Bd1 to keep her chances.

IM Vaishali R (TN) - WIM Priyanka K (TN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WIM Isha Sharma (KAR) - IM Padmini Rout (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WFM Harshini A (TN) - WIM Savitha Shri B (TN): 1-0 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WGM Nandhidhaa P V (TN) - Vrushali Umesh Deodhar: 0-1 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WIM Michelle Catherina (TN) - Abhirami Madabushi (TEL): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Round 7: Bhakti - Divya: 1-0

IM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) did not respond correctly to WGM Divya Deshmukh's (MAH) attack.

Position after 22...Qh6

The obvious response is to play 23.Kh2. However, that only allows Black to disintegrate White's position faster, 23...f4. Instead, active defense 23.Nc3 followed by 24.d5 would have not only saved the game but also kept White's chances.

WGM Divya Deshmukh on fire at MPL 47th National Women | Video: ChessBase India

WGM Pratyusha Bodda (AP) drew with IM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) which could have gone either player's way | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Mounika - Priyanka Nutakki: 0-1

WIM Priyanka Nutakki (AP) quite possibly won the most creative battle of the day against her state mate WIM Mounika Akshaya (AP).

Position after 13...Rh4

White went 8.g4, 13.Rg1. Black did not want to be left behind either. She played imaginatively, 13...Rh4 14.Be5 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Rxe4+ 16.Be2 f6 17.f3 Rxe2+ 18.Kxe2 fxe5 and it's all over for White.

Priyanka K - Arpita: 0-1

The wildest game of the day was between WIM Priyanka K (TN) and WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB). The former was ont the brink of victory before she missed it and went on to lose the game.

Position after 27...e4

Find out the winning continuation for White after 27...e4. The game continued 28.Bf5 Ne5 29.Bxe4 and soon things turned completely into Black's favor.

WIM Rakshitta Ravi (TN) - IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WIM Chandreyee Hajra (WB) - WGM Varshini V (TN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (ODI) - Vrushali Umesh Deodhar (MAH): 1-0 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Abhirami Madabushi (TEL) - WIM Savitha Shri B (TN): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

For more Round 6 and 7 photos, click here.

A total of 102 players including 5 IMs, 8 WGMs and 10 WIMs are taking part in this tournament organized by All Odisha Chess Association. The event is taking place at KIIT at Bhubaneswar, Odisha from 25th February to 2nd March 2022. The nine-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1

Replay Round 6-7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	2	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	GOA	5	0 - 1	5½	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	MAH	8
2	7	WGM	Pratyusha Bodda	2328	AP	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2360	PSPB	5
3	15	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2224	MAH	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Vaishali R	2403	TN	1
4	6	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	PSPB	4½	1 - 0	4½	WFM	Harshini A	2131	TN	26
5	24	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2145	AP	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2301	AP	9
6	14	WIM	Priyanka K	2227	TN	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	WB	11
7	19	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	MAH	4½	½ - ½	4½	WIM	Sharma Isha	2253	KAR	13
8	4	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2361	PSPB	4	1 - 0	4	WGM	Swati Ghate	2136	LIC	25
9	10	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2278	TN	4	½ - ½	4	IM	Mohota Nisha	2147	PSPB	23
10	16	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	TN	4	1 - 0	4		Nimmy A.G.	2110	KER	28
11	32	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	2001	WB	4	½ - ½	4	WGM	Varshini V	2206	TN	17
12	18	WFM	Salonika Saina	2206	ORI	4	1 - 0	4		Supriya Maji	2093	WB	29
13	20	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2177	MAH	4	½ - ½	4	WFM	Bhagyashree Patil	1974	MAH	33
14	22	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2168	LIC	4	0 - 1	4		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1974	MAH	34
15	39		Velpula Sarayu	1875	TEL	4	0 - 1	3½	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2176	TN	21
16	44		Abhirami Madabushi	1777	TEL	3½	½ - ½	3½	WIM	Savitha Shri B	2257	TN	12
17	27		Bala Kannamma P	2120	TN	3½	1 - 0	3½		Azal Nasir	1459	DEL	59
18	30	WFM	Jyothsna L	2052	TN	3½	1 - 0	3½		Tejaswini G	1742	TN	45
19	67		Dakshita Kumawat	1395	RAJ	3½	½ - ½	3½	WFM	Kotepalli Sai Nirupama	1914	AP	37
20	41	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1856	WB	3½	1 - 0	3½		Swara Lakshmi S Nair	1383	KAR	69

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	IM	Vaishali R	2403	TN	5½		6½	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	MAH	8
2	5	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2360	PSPB	5½		5½	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	PSPB	6
3	9	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2301	AP	5½		5½	WGM	Pratyusha Bodda	2328	AP	7
4	11	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	WB	5½		5	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2361	PSPB	4
5	19	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	MAH	5		5	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	GOA	2
6	13	WIM	Sharma Isha	2253	KAR	5		5	WFM	Salonika Saina	2206	ORI	18
7	34		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1974	MAH	5		5	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	TN	16
8	24	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2145	AP	4½		4½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2278	TN	10
9	26	WFM	Harshini A	2131	TN	4½		4½	WIM	Priyanka K	2227	TN	14
10	33	WFM	Bhagyashree Patil	1974	MAH	4½		4½	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2224	MAH	15
11	17	WGM	Varshini V	2206	TN	4½		4½		Bala Kannamma P	2120	TN	27
12	41	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1856	WB	4½		4½	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2177	MAH	20
13	21	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2176	TN	4½		4½	WFM	Jyothsna L	2052	TN	30
14	23	IM	Mohota Nisha	2147	PSPB	4½		4½	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	2001	WB	32
15	12	WIM	Savitha Shri B	2257	TN	4		4		Ishvi Aggarwal	1833	HAR	42
16	43		Singh Neha	1833	BIH	4		4	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2168	LIC	22
17	25	WGM	Swati Ghate	2136	LIC	4		4		Abhirami Madabushi	1777	TEL	44
18	28		Nimmy A.G.	2110	KER	4		4		Anupam M Sreekumar	1724	KER	48
19	29		Supriya Maji	2093	WB	4		4		Dakshita Kumawat	1395	RAJ	67
20	35	WFM	Lakshmi C	1968	TN	4		4		Smaraki Mohanty	1725	ORI	47
21	49		Keerti Shree Reddy	1721	TN	4		4		Meenal Gupta	1941	JK	36

Details

Related news:

	16-year-old Divya Deshmukh clinches MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship 2022 @ 03/03/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	17 वर्षीय दिव्या देशमुख बनी सीनियर नेशनल चैम्पियन @ 02/03/2022 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Divya Deshmukh on the verge of winning MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship 2022 @ 02/03/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	MPL 47th National Women R5: Maharashtra's Sakshi and Divya share the lead @ 28/02/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	MPL 47th National Women R3-4: Priyanka Nutakki halts Vaishali's momentum @ 27/02/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	MPL 47th National Women R1-2: Mrittika Mallick stuns Bhakti Kulkarni @ 26/02/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)