MPL 48th National Women R5: Aashna astounds Sakshi
WIM Aashna Makhija outplayed WIM Sakshi Chitlange to emerge sole leader at MPL 48th National Women Chess Championship 2022. Aashna's preparation worked out in her favor to take her score to 5/5. Former multi-time National Women champion, WGM Mary Ann Gomes is the only player trailing her by a half point 4.5/5. The exciting battle between the top two seeds WGM Vantika Agrawal and WGM Divya Deshmukh ended in a draw. Although it was Vantika who was better for the majority of the game. She somehow allowed her opponent to escape with a draw. Aashna will face Mary in the sixth round which starts today at 10:30 a.m. Photo: Maharashtra Chess Association
Top two seeds have an exciting battle
Apart from the top board clash. the rating favorites won the decisive ganes among the top seven boards. WCM Bristy Mukherjee (WB) and Rindhiya V (TN) defeated WGM Varshini V (TN) and WIM Mounika Akshaya (AP); WFM Supreetha Potluri (AP) and Dakshita Kumawat (RAJ) held WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) and WIM Srishti Pandey (MAH) to a draw each respectively.
Sakshi - Aashna: 0-1
It is rightly said, "To be prepared is half the victory" by Miguel de Cervantes. WIM Aashna Makhija (MAH, 2123) showed that it really does not matter which color you get, what matters is how good you are prepared. She played a line in the QGD against which WGM-elect WIM Sakshit Chitlange (MAH, 2213) seemed to have not enough preparation.
15.Rc1 is where White went wrong at first. 15...Bd7 and White is losing one of the a4 or b2 pawns. 15.0-0 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Bxc3 17.Rab1 Bxd4 18.Bxd4 Rxd4 19.Rfd1 is how White should have continued but if one does not know this, it is certainly not easy to work out that this is a better way to let the pawn go and get some compensation as it is not possible to avoid a pawn loss. Soon White landed herself in a lost endgame in 22 moves where Black had an outside passed pawn.
Divya - Vantika: 0.5-0.5
WGM Divya Deshmukh (MAH, 2347) landed herself in deep trouble by launching an ambitious attack on her opponent WGM Vantika Agrawal's (DEL, 2352) kingside.
32.f5 was uncalled for. 32.Nb3 unpinning the bishop should have been prioritized. Time scramble is probably the reason Black could not find 32...gxf5 33.h6 Nxe5 which is winning for her. Black opted for 32...Nxe5 immediately. 33.hxg6 fxg6 34.Nb3 Nf7 35.Qh4 h6 36.fxg6 Ng5 still gave Black a substantial advantage. 37.Rhe3 Rf8 38.Bb2 Rxb3!? 39.cxb3 and now c5 would have been perfect to open the long diagonal and bring the bishop via b7. 39...Bxd4 40.Ba1 Bxe3+ 41.Rxe3 Nh3+ 42.Qxh3 Qd1+ 43.Kg2 Qxa1 the attack diminished, soon the queens were traded and the game drifted into a draw.
A total of 102 players including 3 IMs, 7 WGMs and 12 WIMs are taking part in this tournament organized by Chess Association Kolhapur. The event is taking place at Sanjay Ghodawat University, Kolhapur, Maharasahtra from 26th December 2022 to 5th January 2023. The 11-round Swiss league tournament has a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes with an increment of 30 seconds from move no.1
Replay Round 5 games
Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Club/City | No. | PGN | ||
| 1 | 8 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | Maharashtra | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | WIM | Makhija Aashna | Maharashtra | 20 | PGN |
| 2 | 2 | WGM | Divya Deshmukh | Maharashtra | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | WGM | Vantika Agrawal | Delhi | 1 | PGN |
| 3 | 4 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | PSPB | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | WFM | Shah Vishwa | Maharashtra | 17 | PGN |
| 4 | 24 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | LIC | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | PSPB | 3 | PGN |
| 5 | 29 | Potluri Saye Srreezza | Telangana | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | IM | Kulkarni Bhakti | Goa | 5 | PGN | |
| 6 | 10 | WIM | Arpita Mukherjee | West Bengal | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WFM | Potluri Supreetha | Andhra Pradesh | 39 | PGN |
| 7 | 30 | WFM | Lakshmi C | Tamil Nadu | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WGM | Srija Seshadri | Tamil Nadu | 11 | PGN |
| 8 | 55 | Dakshita Kumawat | Rajasthan | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WIM | Pandey Srishti | Maharashtra | 13 | PGN | |
| 9 | 41 | WCM | Bristy Mukherjee | West Bengal | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WGM | Varshini V | Tamil Nadu | 15 | PGN |
| 10 | 16 | WIM | Bommini Mounika Akshaya | Andhra Pradesh | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | Rindhiya V | Tamil Nadu | 43 | PGN |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Club/City | No. | ||
| 1 | 20 | WIM | Makhija Aashna | Maharashtra | 5 | 4½ | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | PSPB | 4 | |
| 2 | 1 | WGM | Vantika Agrawal | Delhi | 4 | 4 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | Maharashtra | 8 | |
| 3 | 11 | WGM | Srija Seshadri | Tamil Nadu | 4 | 4 | WGM | Divya Deshmukh | Maharashtra | 2 | |
| 4 | 3 | IM | Soumya Swaminathan | PSPB | 4 | 4 | Sunyuktha C M N | Tamil Nadu | 40 | ||
| 5 | 5 | IM | Kulkarni Bhakti | Goa | 4 | 4 | WCM | Bristy Mukherjee | West Bengal | 41 | |
| 6 | 43 | Rindhiya V | Tamil Nadu | 4 | 3½ | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | RSPB | 6 | ||
| 7 | 9 | WIM | Sharma Isha | Karnataka | 3½ | 3½ | Dakshita Kumawat | Rajasthan | 55 | ||
| 8 | 17 | WFM | Shah Vishwa | Maharashtra | 3½ | 3½ | WIM | Arpita Mukherjee | West Bengal | 10 | |
| 9 | 19 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | Maharashtra | 3½ | 3½ | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | Maharashtra | 12 | |
| 10 | 13 | WIM | Pandey Srishti | Maharashtra | 3½ | 3½ | WGM | Swati Ghate | LIC | 25 |
Links
Chess Association Kolhapur: Official site, and facebook
