National Women's Championship: Seven players lead after three rounds

by Aditya Pai - 19/11/2018

The National Women's Chess Championship kicked off on the 17th of November at the Diamond Club, Urbana Jewels in Jaipur Rajasthan. Even though some top women players are missing from the field, the event has attracted as many as 112 participants from all corners of the country. Three rounds have been played so far and each one has been fully action packed. After several upsets and brilliancies, seven players including the top-seeded Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman and -- surprisingly -- two sub-1800 rated women have made it atop the leaderboard with a perfect 3.0/3 score. We bring you all the action.

The Pink city plays host to the 2018 edition of the National Women's Chess Championship

The National Women's Chess Championship kicked off on Sunday with an 11 am morning round. The tournament is slated to be played from November 17-26, 2018 over 11 rounds at the Diamond Club in the Rajasthani city of Jaipur and is being organised by the All India Chess Federation. The prize purse is a whopping ₹15,00,000 with the winner's share being ₹400,000. The event has attracted a total of 112 participants from 20 states, 2 Union Territories and 4 special units which include 2 IMs, 6 WGMs, 7 WIMs and 7 WFMs.

Top seed of the tournament is the seven-time National Champion, IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Some of the other top names in the fray include (but are not limited to) Mary Ann Gomes, Nisha Mohota, Bhakti Kulkarni and Swati Ghate. As for the time control, players get 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and another 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds from the first move.

Naveen Jain, Senior IAS, Jaipur inaugurated the tournament by making the 1st move against seven-time National Women Champion IM Vijayalakshmi S | Photo: AICF

Three rounds into the tournament, IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman has taken the lead alongside six other players. While some among the leaders are usual suspects like Swati Ghate or Kiran Manisha Mohanty, some are surprise names like Vrushali Deodhar (1793) and Andria D'Souza (1754). Some of the top seeds like Mary Ann Gomes and Bhakti Kulkarni have already conceded draws to lower rated opponents and have slipped half-a-point behind the leaders.

Round 1

The inaugural round saw no surprises as all of the top seeds managed to win their games. While most top seeds won their game rather easily, top seed, IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman had to face a decent challenge in the first two phases of her game against Niharika Ch. The 1626 rated Niharika managed to go toe-to-toe with her title opponent well until the final phase of the game in a Reti Opening before finally caving in in the heavy piece endgame that had ensued.

IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman had to rely on her endgame expertise to outwit the much lower rated Niharika Ch | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Meanwhile, on board 2, WGM Mary Ann Gomes wrapped up her game against Shrija KM with a neat tactic | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

White has just pinned the black pawn with 27.Re1? How did black deliver the knock-out punch?

Round 2

The second round saw a few more upsets on the top boards. Samriddha Ghosh (1870) held Sakshi Chitlange (2237) to a draw on board 7 while Bommini Mounika Akshaya (1859) held Priyanka K (2207) and Siddhali Shetye (1831) signed peace against WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (2191). Wins were over higher rated opposition on some of the top boards were scored by Meghna C H (1879), who defeated WIM Nandhidhaa PV (2240); Priyamvada Karamcheti (1829) who got the better of WIM Vantika Agrawal (2210); Bhagyashree Patil (1800) who brought down Michelle Catherina P (2182); and Vrushali Deodhar (1793) who beat Isha Sharma (2151).

Nandhidhaa PV had an even position against Meghna CH out of a French Tarrasch when she suddenly lost the thread of the position and allowed her opponent a monstrous kingside attack. Once the black pawns began rolling, there was just no way out for white. The WIM from Tamil Nadu was forced to resign about 7 moves later.

One slip in the middle game proved fatal for Nandhidhaa PV in round 2 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vantika Agrawal also suffered an upset in round 2 in a 71 move long game | Photo: Supriya Bhat

Round 3

The third round also saw its fair share of action. After a relatively dull opening in the first round with the white pieces, top seed, IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman replayed 1.Nf3 (which later transposed into a King's Indian Defence) in round three and utterly annihilated the Saranya J's king. The game that merely lasted 29 moves finished with a nice slow-motion checkmate.

Viji played a ferocious attack in the third round to reach 3.0/3

On board 12, Sakshi Chitlange (2237) suffered one of the biggest upsets of the round as she lost with the black pieces against Andria D'Souza (1754) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Results of round 3

š.	č.	T	Meno	Elo	Body	Výsledok	Body	T	Meno	Elo	č.
1	1	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2365	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Saranya J	2049	22
2	21	WCM	Jyothsna L	2060	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2286	2
3	3	IM	Mohota Nisha	2276	2	½ - ½	2		Harini S.	1998	26
4	23		Priyanka Kumari	2005	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2256	4
5	5	WGM	Swati Ghate	2256	2	1 - 0	2		Priyamvada Karamcheti	1829	42
6	25		Sandhya G	2000	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2224	8
7	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2198	2	1 - 0	2		Bhagyashree Patil	1800	46
8	27	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	1994	2	0 - 1	2	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2164	14
9	29	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	1963	2	½ - ½	2		Nimmy A.G.	2136	16
10	35	WFM	Meghna C H	1879	2	½ - ½	2		Bala Kannamma P	2101	18
11	19	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2090	2	0 - 1	2		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1793	48
12	51		Andria L D`souza	1754	2	1 - 0	1½	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2237	7
13	41		Shetye Siddhali	1831	1½	0 - 1	1½		Priyanka K	2207	10
14	39	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	1859	1½	½ - ½	1½	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2191	12
15	76		Shrivastava Aditi	1307	1½	0 - 1	1½	WFM	Harshini A	1986	28

Standings after round 3

Por.	č.	T	Meno	FED	Elo	Klub	Body	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2365	AI	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0
	5	WGM	Swati Ghate	IND	2256	LIC	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0
	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2198	RSPB	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0
4	48		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	IND	1793	MAH	3,0	0,0	4,0	4,0
5	14	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2164	LIC	3,0	0,0	3,5	5,0
6	25		Sandhya G	IND	2000	AP	3,0	0,0	3,5	4,5
7	51		Andria L D`souza	IND	1754	KAR	3,0	0,0	3,0	3,0
8	18		Bala Kannamma P	IND	2101	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	6,0
9	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2286	PSPB	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	4	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2256	AI	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	16		Nimmy A.G.	IND	2136	KER	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	21	WCM	Jyothsna L	IND	2060	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	23		Priyanka Kumari	IND	2005	JHA	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	26		Harini S.	IND	1998	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5
	35	WFM	Meghna C H	IND	1879	RSPB	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5

Round 4 pairing

š.	č.	T	Meno	Elo	Body	Výsledok	Body	T	Meno	Elo	č.
1	14	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2164	3		3	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2365	1
2	48		Deodhar Vrushali Umesh	1793	3		3	WGM	Swati Ghate	2256	5
3	51		Andria L D`souza	1754	3		3	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2198	11
4	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2286	2½		3		Sandhya G	2000	25
5	28	WFM	Harshini A	1986	2½		2½	IM	Mohota Nisha	2276	3
6	4	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2256	2½		2½	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	1963	29
7	10		Priyanka K	2207	2½		2½		Priyanka Kumari	2005	23
8	16		Nimmy A.G.	2136	2½		2½	WFM	Meghna C H	1879	35
9	18		Bala Kannamma P	2101	2½		2½		Mehendi Sil	1633	56
10	26		Harini S.	1998	2½		2½	WCM	Jyothsna L	2060	21
11	6	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2240	2		2	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1868	37
12	8	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2224	2		2	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	1859	39
13	40		Singh Neha	1835	2		2	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2210	9
14	12	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2191	2		2		Adane Narayani	1806	45
15	42		Priyamvada Karamcheti	1829	2		2	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2182	13

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