Divya Deshmukh on the verge of winning MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship 2022

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/03/2022

WGM Divya Deshmukh (MAH) registered her seventh consecutive victory at MPL 47th National Women Chess Championship. She defeated the top seed IM Vaishali (TN). Now she just needs a draw in the final round against IM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) to win the tournament. In a battle former National Women champions, Soumya drew with IM Padmini Rout (PSPB). WIM Priyanka Nutakki (AP) scored her second hat-trick of the event by winning against WGM Pratyusha Bodda (AP). WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) had an interesting draw with WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB). IM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) suffered third loss of the event, against WIM Sakshi Chitlange (MAH). Round 9 starts today at 10:00 a.m. IST. Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Only Priyanka Nutakki can tie the score

WIM Priyanka Nutakki is the only player who can catch Divya. The only scenario where Priyanka can win the tournament is, Priyanka beats Padmini Rout in the final round and Soumya beats Divya. Then also, if Priyanka's tie-break stays ahead as it is now, she can clinch the championship.

Divya Deshmukh needs a draw in the final round to clinch the championship | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Vaishali - Divya: 0-1

IM Vaishali (TN) got into trouble early in the opening against WGM Divya Deshmukh (MAH).

Position after 10...Ng3

Things seem to have gone terribly wrong for White. Petroff's defense is relatively quiet where Black generally equalizes with ease, however Divya certainly was better prepared in this opening. 10...Ng3 11.Qa4 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Nxf1 not Nxh1. Now White needed to play 13.Kxf1 idea Kg1 and put the king into safety. 13.Rxf1 stranded the king at the center of the board where it was the subject of Black's attacks. 13...0-0-0 14.cxd5 Rxd5 15.c4 Ra5 16.Qb3 Nb4 17.Kd2 Nc2 18.Ra2 Rxa3 and eventually the passed a-pawn became the deciding factor in Black scoring a victory.

Vaishali vs Divya Deshmukh | The clash of future of Indian women's chess | Video: ChessBase India

IM Sounmya Swaminathan (PSPB) - IM Padmini Rout (PSPB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Priyanka Nutakki - Pratyusha: 1-0

WIM Priyanka Nutakki (AP) scored her second hat-trick as she beat WGM Pratyusha Bodda (AP).

Position after 20...Ne4

In a balanced position, Black made a big mistake 20...Ne4. Find out the winning continuation for White.

WIM Priyanka Nutakki scored her second hat-trick of the event | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Arpita - Mary: 0.5-0.5

WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) had an interesting and prolonged draw in a Queen vs Rook and Bishop endgame against WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB).

Position after 27...Rb8

Computer will say White is winning after 28.axb6+ Rxb6 29.Rxb6 Kxb6 30.Rb1+ Ka7 31.Rb7+ Qxb7 32.Bxb7 Kxb7. However, for a human to convert that position for White is not at all easy, especially when the defender is a strong player like Mary. Even if you insert 28.Qg4 Bd4 before taking on b6, it hardly makes a difference.

Arpita and Mary had an interesting game | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

Sakshi - Bhakti: 1-0

IM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) suffered her second consecutive and third loss of the event, against WIM Sakshi Chitlange (MAH).

Position after 19...f6

19...f6 traps her own knight at h5 as now it has no safe squares to go. 20.Bh2 Bh6 21.g4 e5 22.dxc5 d4 23.Nd1 Ng7 24.Bg1 White is not rushing into capturing the bishop Bg5 25.gxf5 and it's all over for Black.

Sakshi handed Bhakti her third defeat of the event | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

WIM Isha Sharma (KAR) defeated WFM Saina Salonika (ODI) comfortably | Photo: IA Suresh Chandra Sahoo

For more Round 8 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 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	IM	Vaishali R	2403	TN	5½	0 - 1	6½	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	MAH	8
2	5	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2360	PSPB	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	PSPB	6
3	9	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2301	AP	5½	1 - 0	5½	WGM	Pratyusha Bodda	2328	AP	7
4	11	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	WB	5½	½ - ½	5	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2361	PSPB	4
5	19	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	MAH	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	GOA	2
6	13	WIM	Sharma Isha	2253	KAR	5	1 - 0	5	WFM	Salonika Saina	2206	ORI	18
7	34		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1974	MAH	5	0 - 1	5	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	TN	16
8	24	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2145	AP	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2278	TN	10
9	26	WFM	Harshini A	2131	TN	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Priyanka K	2227	TN	14
10	33	WFM	Bhagyashree Patil	1974	MAH	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2224	MAH	15
11	17	WGM	Varshini V	2206	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½		Bala Kannamma P	2120	TN	27
12	41	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1856	WB	4½	½ - ½	4½	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2177	MAH	20
13	21	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2176	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½	WFM	Jyothsna L	2052	TN	30
14	23	IM	Mohota Nisha	2147	PSPB	4½	1 - 0	4½	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	2001	WB	32
15	12	WIM	Savitha Shri B	2257	TN	4	1 - 0	4		Ishvi Aggarwal	1833	HAR	42
16	43		Singh Neha	1833	BIH	4	0 - 1	4	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2168	LIC	22
17	25	WGM	Swati Ghate	2136	LIC	4	1 - 0	4		Abhirami Madabushi	1777	TEL	44
18	28		Nimmy A.G.	2110	KER	4	1 - 0	4		Anupam M Sreekumar	1724	KER	48
19	29		Supriya Maji	2093	WB	4	0 - 1	4		Dakshita Kumawat	1395	RAJ	67
20	35	WFM	Lakshmi C	1968	TN	4	0 - 1	4		Smaraki Mohanty	1725	ORI	47

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	8	WGM	Divya Deshmukh	2301	MAH	7½		6	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	2360	PSPB	5
2	6	IM	Padmini Rout	2350	PSPB	6		6½	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2301	AP	9
3	11	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2260	WB	6		6	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2205	MAH	19
4	16	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2219	TN	6		6	WIM	Sharma Isha	2253	KAR	13
5	7	WGM	Pratyusha Bodda	2328	AP	5½		5½	IM	Vaishali R	2403	TN	1
6	4	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2361	PSPB	5½		5½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	2278	TN	10
7	14	WIM	Priyanka K	2227	TN	5½		5½	IM	Mohota Nisha	2147	PSPB	23
8	15	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2224	MAH	5½		5	WIM	Savitha Shri B	2257	TN	12
9	2	IM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	GOA	5		5		Nimmy A.G.	2110	KER	28
10	38		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1910	WB	5		5	WGM	Varshini V	2206	TN	17
11	18	WFM	Salonika Saina	2206	ORI	5		5	WFM	Jyothsna L	2052	TN	30
12	20	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2177	MAH	5		5		Velpula Sarayu	1875	TEL	39
13	47		Smaraki Mohanty	1725	ORI	5		5	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2176	TN	21
14	22	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2168	LIC	5		5	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1856	WB	41
15	67		Dakshita Kumawat	1395	RAJ	5		5	WGM	Swati Ghate	2136	LIC	25
16	27		Bala Kannamma P	2120	TN	5		5		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1974	MAH	34
17	40		Jayashree P.K.	1864	TN	4½		4½	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2145	AP	24
18	37	WFM	Kotepalli Sai Nirupama	1914	AP	4½		4½	WFM	Harshini A	2131	TN	26
19	31	WCM	Kheerthi Ganta	2011	TEL	4½		4½		Tejaswini G	1742	TN	45
20	32	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	2001	WB	4½		4½		Keerti Shree Reddy	1721	TN	49

Details

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