Vantika Agrawal steals the show with a superb intermezzo! 

Vantika Agrawal (right) first beat Vishwa Shah in round five and finally in the sixth round she wrested the lead from Uzbekistan's Bakhora Abdusattorova (left) | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

It was an open Catalan game against the Uzbekistani WIM and Vantika, after a enjoying a superior position throughout the encounter, found a clever way to finish things off tactically. 

 

Vantika Agrawal - Bakhora Abdusattorova, Round 6

It was in this position where the moment of truth arrived... White played 38.Nxe5 here, now how do you think should Black recapture on e5?

Well, 38...Rxe5 would have been the sound option. Although White gets good initiative after 39.Rd8+ Kg7 40.Rc8 but Black is certainly not lost. In the game 38...Qxe5 was played, at first glance this doesn't seem to make much difference at all, if anything it only looks as though Black can face 39.Rd8+ better now with 39...Re8. But in chess, as they say, appearances often lie.

Can you find the move that Vantika found in this position to seize a decisive initiative?

As already mentioned, playing 39.Rd8+ immediately here doesn't gain all that much. The best move is 39.Rd5! - a subtle zwischenzug.

The point is to deflect the black queen before going Rd8+!

Now something like 39...Qc7 runs into 40.Qd4 after which Rd8 is a deadly threat. In view of this Black played 39...Qc3 here keeping an eye on the d4 square. But now came  40.Rd8+ Kg7 41.Rc8 Qe5 42.Qd8 and the game was over only in three moves from here.

Sakshi Chitlange (right) lost her fifth round game against Bakhora Abdusattorova but in the next round managed to bounce back by beating Lakshmi C (left) | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings after round 6 in under-20 girls

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 w-we
11
WIMVantika AgrawalwIND23045,00,0518,019,515,000,03
25
WIMAbdusattorova BakhorawUZB21094,51,0420,523,516,500,46
34
WIMChitlange SakshiwIND21594,50,0420,523,517,000,74
413
Shah VishwawIND17604,00,0319,021,012,002,30
52
WIMAakanksha HagawanewIND22324,00,0317,519,511,25-1,19
69
Bakshi RutujawIND20024,00,0317,519,010,501,01
76
WFMSavitha Shri BwIND20763,50,0314,515,57,50-1,66
817
Senthamizh Yazhini SwIND16263,00,0317,519,07,001,43
914
WFMPotluri SupreethawIND17453,00,0316,518,07,001,28
108
WFMBommini Mounika AkshayawIND20553,00,0217,519,57,75-0,95

Pranav Anand gets the better of Rahul Srivatshava

13-year-old Pranav Anand defeated Rahul Srivatshava in a topsy-turvy game where fortune changed hands more than once | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Divya Deshmukh played solidly to hold IM Vardaan Nagpal to draw | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings in under-20 open after round 6

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 w-we
17
FMRajdeep SarkarIND23645,00,5421,523,018,251,26
22
FMAbdisalimov AbdimalikUZB24095,00,5419,021,517,500,73
33
Sammed Jaykumar SheteIND23954,50,0420,023,015,750,29
49
FMPranav AnandIND23614,50,0417,520,014,000,45
510
IMVardaan NagpalIND23464,50,0321,523,516,500,80
68
WIMDivya DeshmukhwIND23624,50,0317,520,014,50-0,02
711
Raahul V SIND22784,00,0416,517,08,50-0,21
86
Sankalp GuptaIND23764,00,0415,017,010,00-0,89
95
IMMendonca Leon LukeIND23854,00,0317,019,010,75-0,52
1019
FMHarshal ShahiIND21143,50,0320,021,09,751,30

Mrudul Dehankar keeps up her stellar run!

Mrudul Dehankar drew her fifth round game against Jyothsna L. but in the next round resumed her winning spree by defeating Sanskriti Goyal | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran 

Standings in under-18 girls after round 6

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 w-we
11
WCMMrudul DehankarwIND21985,50,0520,022,520,250,81
22
Priyanka KwIND21695,00,0518,520,014,500,16
34
WCMJyothsna LwIND19894,50,0319,022,016,000,72
46
Pandey SrishtiwIND19283,50,0319,520,58,250,12
58
Toshali VwIND18233,50,0318,519,57,250,57
63
WFMSanskriti GoyalwIND20303,50,0318,020,09,75-0,59
77
Ghosh SamriddhaawIND18633,50,0318,019,58,250,00
85
Srimathi RwIND19723,50,0215,017,08,75-0,80
99
WCMJayaweera Sayuni GihansawSRI18213,50,0214,515,56,75-0,57
1013
Shriya R RevankarwIND17513,00,0216,518,08,000,63

Thilakarathne defeats Mohamed Anees to register fourth consecutive win!

After losing to Arjun Gupta in the second round, Sri Lanka's Thilakarathne GMH has made a strong comeback winning four games in a row, the last victory being against Mohamed Anees M | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Srijit Paul (left) defeated Vatsal Singhania in round five but was held to draw by Ajay Karthikeyan (right) in the sixth round | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Standings after round 6 in under-18 open

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 w-we
11
FMThilakarathne G M HU18SRI23975,00,0518,521,518,00-0,33
22
Srijit PaulU18IND23104,50,0420,023,016,25-0,27
314
Mohamed Anees MU16IND20384,50,0419,522,015,001,52
49
FMVatsal SinghaniaU18IND21594,50,0418,020,514,250,78
512
Harisurya Bharadwaj GundepudiU18IND20434,50,0414,016,012,25-0,18
65
FMAjay KarthikeyanU16IND22064,50,0317,519,013,750,26
710
Soham KamotraU16IND21394,00,0317,519,511,50-0,20
86
FMAbdilkhair AbilmansurU16KAZ21894,00,0317,019,511,75-0,41
94
FMAaryan VarshneyU18IND22684,00,0314,516,511,00-1,32
107
WIMHarshita GuddantiU18wIND21684,00,0216,018,512,00-0,88

Check detailed results of all categories here.