Women Challengers 2017 Round 10: Huge games, huge results!

by C.K. Muralidharan - 29/07/2017

A pawn was hanging on a5. It looked very juicy, but was poisonous. Soumya couldn't hold herself back and went to grab it, only to realize that it was a trap set up by her opponent Bhakti Kulkarni. The queen was trapped and Bhakti leads the tournament with 8.5/10. With the final round to go, the contest for the eight qualifying spots at the tournament has become intense. While Bhakti and Mary indulge in the title fight, the rest of the girls have to ensure a good final round result to qualify for the national premier. Penultimate report from Mysore.

Bhakti Kulkarni leads the event with half point

Fifth seeded WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India-8.5 points) continued her excellent winning spree after her first round loss to come back strongly to beat overnight leader and top-seed WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB-7.5 points) and emerged as the sole leader after ten rounds, and brightened her chances of winning the title on the penultimate day of the 44th National women challengers chess championship 2017.

Bhakti's played the Bird's Defence in Ruy Lopez and was able to beat Soumya when the latter made a huge blunder

Soumya must have felt like a mouse that has fallen for a cheese trap after she took the pawn on a5. How did Bhakti shut the door on the queen?

Rb4! of course! And the queen is trapped. Bb7 simply wins the queen. Thus Bhakti won the game and is now very close to winning the tournament as she has a full point's lead over the field with 8.5/10.

[Event "44th National Women Challengers 2017"]
[Site "Mysore India"]
[Date "2017.07.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Swaminathan, Soumya"]
[Black "Bhakti, Kulkarni"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C61"]
[WhiteElo "2349"]
[BlackElo "2255"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 $5 {Bhakti comes up with an interesting
variation!} 4. Nxd4 (4. Nxe5 Qg5 {is a well known trap.}) 4... exd4 5. O-O Bc5
6. a4 (6. c3 {is usually considered the normal way to play.}) 6... Ne7 7. c3 c6
8. Bd3 a5 9. Na3 Ng6 10. Nc2 dxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Be2 {At this point withe d4
coming up, we can say that the opening has given White a small edge.} Nf4 13.
Bf3 $6 (13. Bc4 $5 d5 14. d4 $1 dxc4 15. Bxf4 $16) 13... Nd3 $1 $11 14. Ba3 b6
15. Ne3 Ba6 16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. c4 $6 {Little did Soumya imagine that this move
would weaken the d4 square and the knight would make its way towards it via
f4-e6.} Qf6 18. Ra3 Nf4 19. g3 Ne6 $1 {The knight has now his eyes set on the
d4 weakness. Black is just better.} 20. Bg2 Rab8 21. d3 Rb2 22. Qe1 Ra8 23.
Qxa5 $2 {[%cal Ge1a5] A horrible move. The queen is now trapped.} Rb4 24. Nc2
Bb7 $19 {And just like that Bhakti won the game.} 25. Qxa8+ Bxa8 26. Nxb4 cxb4
27. Rb3 c5 28. a5 Nd4 29. Rbb1 Ne2+ 30. Kh1 Nc3 31. Ra1 Bb7 32. e5 Qa6 33. f4
Bxg2+ 34. Kxg2 b3 35. Ra3 b2 36. Rb3 Qa8+ 37. Kf2 b1=Q 38. Rfxb1 Nxb1 39. Rxb1
g6 40. Rb5 Qc6 41. h4 Kg7 42. Rb6 Qa4 43. Rd6 Qxa5 44. Rxd7 Qd2+ 45. Kf3 Qe1
46. g4 Qxh4 47. e6 Qh3+ 48. Kf2 Qxg4 49. Rxf7+ Kg8 0-1

Second seeded Mary Ann Gomes of PSPB with 8 points from ten rounds, is placed second in the ranking. Mary scored a well earned win over fourth seeded IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) in 54 moves in the tenth round.

[Event "44th National Women Challengers 2017"]
[Site "Mysore India"]
[Date "2017.07.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Nisha, Mohota"]
[Black "Mary Ann, Gomes"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2271"]
[BlackElo "2331"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 Nbd7 8. a4
b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O Be7 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Rc8 13. b3 O-O 14. Be3 Bg5 15.
Bxg5 Qxg5 16. f4 Qd8 17. c4 b5 18. cxb5 axb5 19. a5 b4 20. Rf2 Ra8 21. Ra4 Rxa5
22. Rxb4 Qa8 23. Ra4 Rxa4 24. bxa4 Nf6 25. fxe5 Ng4 26. Rf4 Ne3 27. Qd4 Nxg2
28. Kxg2 Bxd5+ 29. Kf2 dxe5 30. Qxe5 Re8 31. Qc7 Qa6 32. Qc2 Qe6 33. Ke1 Qe3
34. Rf2 Bb3 35. Qd2 Qe4 36. Qb2 Bxa4 37. Rf1 Bc2 38. Rf2 Bd3 39. Kd1 Bxe2+ 40.
Qxe2 Qb1+ 41. Kd2 Rxe2+ 42. Rxe2 f5 43. Ke3 Kf7 44. Kf2 Qh1 45. Ke3 g5 46. Rd2
Kf6 47. Ra2 Qg1+ 48. Rf2 f4+ 49. Ke2 Kf5 50. gxf4 gxf4 51. h3 Ke4 52. Rf3 Qg2+
53. Rf2 f3+ 54. Ke1 Ke3 0-1

Maharashtra's Srishti Pandey (rating 1930) playing well with white pieces capitalized on the mistakes by WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) and scored a good win in 35 moves.

[Event "44th National Women Challengers 2017"]
[Site "Mysore India"]
[Date "2017.07.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Srishti, Pandey"]
[Black "Manisha Mohanty, Kiran"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "1930"]
[BlackElo "2170"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. h4 c6 6. Bd3 h5 7. Qd2 Nbd7 8. Nf3
Ng4 9. e4 e5 10. dxe5 Ndxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. exd5 Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 O-O 14. O-O-O
Bf5 15. Qg3 cxd5 16. Rxd5 Qc8 17. Be5 Bh6+ 18. Bf4 Bg7 19. Be5 Bh6+ 20. Kb1 b5
21. Re1 Bxc2+ 22. Kxc2 b4 23. Kb1 bxc3 24. Bxc3 Re8 25. Rxe8+ Qxe8 26. Qe5 Qxe5
27. Bxe5 Rc8 28. b3 Bg7 29. Bf4 Bc3 30. Be3 a5 31. Rc5 Rxc5 32. Bxc5 Kg7 33.
Kc2 Be1 34. Bd4+ Kf8 35. a3 1-0

Tamil Nadu's Bala Kannamma P (rating 1977) continued her good run with a upset win over WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (AAI) in 46 moves on the third board.

[Event "44th National Women Challengers 2017"]
[Site "Mysore India"]
[Date "2017.07.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Subbaraman, Meenakshi"]
[Black "Kannamma P, Bala"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2181"]
[BlackElo "1977"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. Nbd2 c5 6. b3 Be7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. O-O
d6 9. e4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nbd7 11. f4 Nc5 12. Qe2 Nfd7 13. Bb5 a6 14. Bc6 Qc7 15.
Bxb7 Nxb7 16. Kh1 Bf6 17. N2f3 g6 18. c4 Rae8 19. Rae1 Bg7 20. Qf2 Nbc5 21. Qc2
e5 22. fxe5 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. Re3 Qb7 25. Rfe1 b5 26. cxb5 axb5 27. Qd2
Bf4 28. Nf5 f6 29. Nxd6 Rd8 30. e5 Bxe3 31. Qxe3 Qd5 32. Nf5 gxf5 33. exf6 Ne4
34. Qb6 Rd6 35. Qc7 Nxf6 36. h3 Rd7 37. Qb6 Rg7 38. Rg1 Rg6 39. Qc7 Rf7 40. Qc3
h6 41. a4 bxa4 42. bxa4 Kh7 43. a5 Rfg7 44. Qc2 Qxa5 45. h4 Qb4 46. Qf2 Ne4 0-1

WFM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) scored a well earned win over Tamil Nadu's Lakshmi C on the seventh board in 81 moves, while WIM Nandhidhaa Pv (AAI) registered a good win over Sanskriti Goyal (UP) in 66 moves in the eighth board.

The contest for the first eight places who qualify for the National 'A' competition is heating up with the final round slated for Saturday and a keen contest is in the offing. Bhakti leads by half a point with 8.5/10. Mary is on 8.0/10.Three players, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, Bala Kannamma P (TN) and Srishti Pandey (Mah) are tied with 7.5 points and are placed from third to fifth in the rankings after the tenth round. Eleven players are tied with 6.5 points and are placed from 14th to 24th in the rankings after the tenth round.

Results of round 10

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2349	7½	0 - 1	7½	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2255	5
2	4	IM	Mohota Nisha	2271	6½	0 - 1	7	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2331	2
3	10	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2181	6½	0 - 1	6½		Bala Kannamma P	1977	25
4	32		Pandey Srishti	1930	6½	1 - 0	6½	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2170	13
5	38		Sandhya G	1873	6½	½ - ½	6½	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2140	16
6	27	WCM	Jyothsna L	1964	6½	½ - ½	6½	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2112	18
7	19	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2100	6	1 - 0	6½	WFM	Lakshmi C	1952	30
8	42		Sanskriti Goyal	1805	6	0 - 1	6	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	2221	7
9	9	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2191	6	1 - 0	6		Divya Lakshmi R	1957	29
10	41		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1854	6	1 - 0	5½		Harshita Guddanti	2180	11

Rank after round 10:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	5	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2255	AI	8,5	0,0	59,0	63,0
2	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2331	PSPB	8,0	0,0	62,5	67,5
3	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2349	PSPB	7,5	0,0	60,5	65,5
4	25		Bala Kannamma P	IND	1977	TN	7,5	0,0	56,5	61,0
5	32		Pandey Srishti	IND	1930	MAH	7,5	0,0	51,5	55,0
6	16	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	IND	2140	MAH	7,0	0,0	57,0	61,5
7	38		Sandhya G	IND	1873	AP	7,0	0,0	56,0	59,5
8	7	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	IND	2221	AAI	7,0	0,0	55,0	60,0
9	41		Ghosh Samriddhaa	IND	1854	WB	7,0	0,0	55,0	59,5
10	27	WCM	Jyothsna L	IND	1964	TN	7,0	0,0	54,5	58,5

Pairing for round 11:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	5	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2255	8½		7½		Pandey Srishti	1930	32
2	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2331	8		7½		Bala Kannamma P	1977	25
3	9	WIM	Pujari Rucha	2191	7		7½	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2349	1
4	7	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	2221	7		7	WCM	Jyothsna L	1964	27
5	16	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2140	7		7	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2100	19
6	18	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2112	7		7		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1854	41
7	3	WGM	Swati Ghate	2278	6½		7		Sandhya G	1873	38
8	15	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2154	6½		6½	IM	Mohota Nisha	2271	4
9	8	WFM	Srija Seshadri	2200	6½		6½	WFM	Kotepalli Sai Nirupama	1978	24
10	30	WFM	Lakshmi C	1952	6½		6½	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2181	10

Download games in PGN format

About the author

C.K.Muralidharan is a 55-year-old Free-lance Sports Journalist based in Mysore. He has 20 years of experience in sports journalism. He contributes to the Hindu National daily and Daily Star of Mysore on all sports in Mysore for the last 15 years. He has been covering sports in Mysore on his website - www.mysoresport.com. He is the promoter of Mysore Professional Chess Academy. IM M.S.Thejkumar is the Vice-President of the Academy and supervises the coaching programme. He works with the Mysore District Chess Association in order to spread the game of chess through the chess in schools program.