Women Challengers Round 4: And the Commonwealth Champion falls!
Every round of the National Women Challengers witnesses a huge upset. In the fourth round it was the in-form, Commonwealth Champion Swati Ghate who had to bite the dust against the 18-year-old Divya Lakshmi. Soumya Swaminathan registered a clinical win and so did K. Priyanka. Divya Lakshmi, Soumya and Priyanka now lead with 4.0/4 with a horde of seven players right behind them on 3.5 points. Report from Mysore with pictures, analysis and more.
Divya Lakshmi beats Swati Ghate and leads with two others
18-year old Tamil Nadu's current women's chess champion, Chennai based Divya Lakshmi R (rating 1957) with 4 points from 4 rounds, scored the biggest win of her career by beating the current Commonwealth 2017 women's champion, WGM Swati Ghate (rating 2278) in 37 moves in the fourth round. She went into the joint lead with two other players: top-seeded WGM Soumya Swaminathan and Tamil Nadu's K.Priyanka (rating 2081).
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.23"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Swati, Ghate"]
[Black "Divya, Lakshmi R"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2278"]
[BlackElo "1957"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
Nxc6 bxc6 9. Qd3 Bd7 10. O-O g6 11. Qc4 Bg7 12. e5 d5 $6 (12... dxe5 13. Bxc6
Qc8 $1 (13... Rc8 14. Bxd7+ Qxd7 15. Qxa6 $16) (13... O-O 14. Bxa8 Qxa8 {
is very good compensation for Black.}) 14. Bxd7+ Nxd7 $11) 13. Qe2 $14 Ng4 14.
Bf4 h5 15. Rfe1 (15. h3 Nh6 16. Na4 $16 {Followed by a clamp on dark squares,
White is just better.}) 15... Be6 16. Na4 Qa5 17. b3 O-O 18. f3 Nh6 19. Qf2 Bf5
20. h3 $1 Kh7 21. g4 Bc8 22. Nb6 Rb8 23. Nxc8 Rbxc8 24. gxh5 Nf5 25. Bf1 Bh6
26. Bxh6 Kxh6 27. Bd3 e6 28. Kh1 Qb4 29. Bxf5 (29. hxg6 fxg6 30. Rg1 $16) 29...
gxf5 30. Qe3+ f4 31. Qf2 Qc3 32. Rg1 (32. Rad1 {[%cal Gd1d3] followed by Rd3,
gives White the edge.}) 32... Rg8 33. Rgf1 $2 (33. Rae1 $13) 33... Rg3 $1 {
And just like that it is all over.} 34. Qe1 Rxh3+ 35. Kg2 Rg3+ 36. Kh2 Qxc2+
37. Rf2 Qf5 {A heart breaking loss for Swati Ghate, who was dominating
throughout the game.} 0-1
Playing on the top board with white pieces, WGM Soumya Swaminathan capitalized on the advantageous Ruy-Lopez opening position and took the initiative to score a comfortable win over her rival WIM Pranali S Dharia (Mah) in 25 moves.
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.23"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Black "Parnali, S Dharia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2349"]
[BlackElo "2140"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. a4
Rb8 9. d4 Bb6 10. a5 $5 {Usually you want to keep the tension on the queenside,
but the move a5 has been seen in many games in the past. It gains space and is
a pretty good move.} Ba7 11. h3 O-O 12. Be3 exd4 (12... Nxe4 13. Bd5 exd4 14.
Bxe4 (14. cxd4 Qe8 $15) 14... dxe3 (14... d5 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 (15... Bxd4 16.
Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. cxd4 $14) 16. Bxd4 (16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. cxd4) 16... Bxd4 17.
Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. cxd4 $14) 15. Bxc6 exf2+ 16. Kh1 $16) 13. cxd4 Nxe4 14. Qc2 Qe8
15. Nc3 Bf5 $6 (15... Nf6 $13 {and the game remains complex. White has
compensation but nothing more.}) 16. Nh4 (16. Nd5 $1 {was stronger and would
have won on the spot. The key point is that the knight on c6 is hanging thanks
to Ne7 fork.} Nd8 17. Nxc7 $16) 16... Nb4 17. Qd1 Bc8 (17... Bg6 18. Re1 $14)
18. Re1 Bb7 19. d5 $1 {Now Black is badly pinned.} Bxe3 20. Rxe3 f5 21. Nxf5
Nxf2 (21... Rxf5 22. Rxe4 $18) 22. Rxe8 Nxd1 23. Rxb8 Rxb8 24. Rxd1 Re8 25. Rd4
{And White who is a piece up, is winning another knight. So Parnali decided to
call it a day.} 1-0
Seven players are tied with 3.5 points and are placed from fourth to tenth in the rankings.
On the second board, WIM M Mahalakshmi (TN) playing with white pieces, after being in a bad position in the beginning, recovered and captitalized on the wrong move ...f5 made by WGM Mary Ann Gomes (3.5) and held her to a creditable draw in 37 moves.
On the third board, K. Priyanka (rating 2081), the current Commonwealth U-16 girls champion from Coimbatore, scored an upset win over eighth seeded WFM Srija Seshadri (Delhi), in 70 moves, in a keenly contested tie. Srija had the advantage in the middle game, but going all out for a win faltered in the ending game to go down meekly in the end.
Results of round 4
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
| 1 | 1 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2349 | PSPB | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WIM | Parnali S Dharia | 2140 | MAH | 16 |
| 2 | 15 | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | 2154 | TN | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 2331 | PSPB | 2 |
| 3 | 21 | Priyanka K | 2081 | TN | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WFM | Srija Seshadri | 2200 | DEL | 8 | |
| 4 | 3 | WGM | Swati Ghate | 2278 | LIC | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 3 | Divya Lakshmi R | 1957 | TN | 29 | |
| 5 | 7 | WIM | Nandhidhaa Pv | 2221 | AAI | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | Bala Kannamma P | 1977 | TN | 25 | |
| 6 | 9 | WIM | Pujari Rucha | 2191 | MAH | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | WFM | Lakshmi C | 1952 | TN | 30 |
| 7 | 13 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | 2170 | LIC | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | WCM | Jyothsna L | 1964 | TN | 27 |
| 8 | 33 | Shetye Siddhali | 1920 | MAH | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | Nimmy A.G. | 2167 | KER | 14 | ||
| 9 | 17 | WCM | Chandreyee Hajra | 2124 | WB | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | Sanskriti Goyal | 1805 | UP | 42 | |
| 10 | 31 | Makhija Aashna | 1947 | MAH | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | 2112 | MAH | 18 |
Rank after round 4:
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 1 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | IND | 2349 | PSPB | 4,0 | 0,0 | 8,5 | 10,5 |
| 2 | 29 | Divya Lakshmi R | IND | 1957 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 10,0 | |
| 3 | 21 | Priyanka K | IND | 2081 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 7,5 | 9,0 | |
| 4 | 2 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | IND | 2331 | PSPB | 3,5 | 0,0 | 9,0 | 11,0 |
| 5 | 13 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | IND | 2170 | LIC | 3,5 | 0,0 | 8,5 | 10,5 |
| 6 | 42 | Sanskriti Goyal | IND | 1805 | UP | 3,5 | 0,0 | 8,5 | 10,0 | |
| 7 | 20 | WFM | Lasya.G | IND | 2097 | AP | 3,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 10,0 |
| 8 | 30 | WFM | Lakshmi C | IND | 1952 | TN | 3,5 | 0,0 | 8,0 | 9,0 |
| 9 | 15 | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | IND | 2154 | TN | 3,5 | 0,0 | 7,5 | 9,0 |
| 10 | 31 | Makhija Aashna | IND | 1947 | MAH | 3,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 7,5 |
Pairing for round 5
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
| 1 | 29 | Divya Lakshmi R | 1957 | TN | 4 | 4 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2349 | PSPB | 1 | ||
| 2 | 2 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 2331 | PSPB | 3½ | 4 | Priyanka K | 2081 | TN | 21 | ||
| 3 | 13 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | 2170 | LIC | 3½ | 3½ | Makhija Aashna | 1947 | MAH | 31 | ||
| 4 | 42 | Sanskriti Goyal | 1805 | UP | 3½ | 3½ | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | 2154 | TN | 15 | ||
| 5 | 30 | WFM | Lakshmi C | 1952 | TN | 3½ | 3½ | WFM | Lasya.G | 2097 | AP | 20 | |
| 6 | 4 | IM | Mohota Nisha | 2271 | PSPB | 3 | 3 | Shetye Siddhali | 1920 | MAH | 33 | ||
| 7 | 25 | Bala Kannamma P | 1977 | TN | 3 | 3 | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | 2255 | AI | 5 | ||
| 8 | 35 | Manasa K. | 1916 | KAR | 3 | 3 | WIM | Nandhidhaa Pv | 2221 | AAI | 7 | ||
| 9 | 8 | WFM | Srija Seshadri | 2200 | DEL | 3 | 3 | Meenu Rajendran | 1918 | KER | 34 | ||
| 10 | 10 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | 2181 | AAI | 3 | 3 | Alka Das | 1887 | JHA | 36 |
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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.