chessbase india logo

Women Challengers 2017 Round 9: Soumya and Bhakti set up title clash

by C.K. Muralidharan - 28/07/2017

C. Lakshmi's dream run at the 44th National Challengers 2017 was brought to a halt by WGM Bhakti Kulkarni ater the latter scored a marathon victory with the black pieces. On the second board Soumya Swaminathan beat P.V. Nandhidhaa. This meant that Bhakti and Soumya now jointly lead the tournament with 7.5/9. You can say that the tenth round clash between the two is the most important game of the entire tournament. The winner most certainly has great chances of becoming the champion. Mary Ann Gomes is the only player on 7 points, followed by ten participants on 6.5.

Soumya Swaminathan and Bhakti Kulkarni lead with 7.5/9

Top-seed WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) and fifth seed Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India), won their respective games on the second and top boards respectively and shared the lead with 7.5 points each from nine rounds at the end of the seventh day at the 44th National women's challengers chess championship 2017.

 

Playing on the top board with white pieces, over-night joint leader from Tamil Nadu, WFM Lakshmi C (6.5 points), fought gallantly, but faltered with her end game to go down to WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (7.5 points) in 91 moves. Bhakti Kulkarni continued her fine run in the tournament after a first round loss to come back strongly to win five games in a row and then drew one (against second seed WGM Mary Ann Gomes) and after that has won two games in a row to emerge as the joint leader with Soumya.

C. Lakshmi lost the game to Bhakti, but not without a fight
[Event "44th NATIONAL WOMEN CHALLENGERS CHESS CH"]
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.27"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Lakshmi, C."]
[Black "Kulkarni, Bhakti"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1952"]
[BlackElo "2255"]
[PlyCount "182"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 f5 6. Qe2 Nf6 7. exf5 Bxf5 8. d4
e4 9. Nh4 Bd7 10. Bg5 d5 11. f3 Be7 12. fxe4 Bg4 13. Nf3 Nxe4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15.
O-O O-O 16. Bb3 Rad8 17. Nbd2 Nxd2 18. Qxe7 Nxe7 19. Nxd2 Bf5 20. Rae1 Nc6 21.
Nf3 h6 22. Re3 Na5 23. Re7 Nxb3 24. axb3 Rd7 25. Rfe1 Rfd8 26. R1e5 Be4 27. Nd2
Bg6 28. Nf3 a5 29. R5e6 Bf7 30. Re3 Bh5 31. Nh4 Kf8 32. R7e5 Bd1 33. b4 axb4
34. cxb4 Bc2 35. Re6 Be4 36. Rc3 Kf7 37. Re5 Ra8 38. b3 Ra6 39. b5 Ra5 40. Nf5
Ra1+ 41. Kf2 Ra2+ 42. Kf1 Bxg2+ 43. Kg1 Be4 44. Ng3 Rg2+ 45. Kf1 Rxh2 46. Nxe4
dxe4 47. Rxe4 Rh5 48. Rc5 Rhd5 49. b4 b6 50. Rc4 Rxb5 51. Re3 Rbd5 52. Rec3
Rxd4 53. Rxd4 Rxd4 54. Rxc7+ Kg8 55. b5 Rd5 56. Kg2 Rxb5 57. Kg3 Rb1 58. Rb7
Kh7 59. Kg2 h5 60. Rd7 Kh6 61. Rd6+ g6 62. Re6 h4 63. Kh3 Kh5 64. Re8 Rb3+ 65.
Kg2 g5 66. Rd8 h3+ 67. Kh2 Kh4 68. Rh8+ Kg4 69. Rd8 Rb2+ 70. Kg1 Kh4 71. Rd3 g4
72. Rd4 b5 73. Re4 b4 74. Rd4 b3 75. Rc4 Rc2 76. Rb4 b2 77. Kh1 Kg5 78. Rb5+
Kf4 79. Rb4+ Ke3 80. Rb3+ Kf2 81. Rb7 Rc1+ 82. Kh2 g3+ 83. Kxh3 b1=Q 84. Rf7+
Kg1 85. Rf3 g2 86. Kg3 Kh1 87. Kh3 g1=N+ 88. Kg3 Nxf3 89. Kf2 Qe4 90. Kg3 Kg1
91. Kh3 Qh4# 0-1

Soumya won against P.V. Nandhidhaa on board two

Overnight joint-leader and top-seed WGM Soumya Swaminathan (7.5 points), playing with black pieces on the second board capitalized on the error made by Nandhidhaa Pv (AAI) during the end game and registered a crucial win in 43 moves. 

[Event "44th NATIONAL WOMEN CHALLENGERS CHESS CH"]
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.27"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Nandhidhaa, Pv"]
[Black "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2221"]
[BlackElo "2349"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
1. e4 c5 2. b3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Bb2 g6 5. d4 Qa5+ 6. Qd2 Qxd2+ 7. Nxd2 cxd4 8.
O-O-O Nc3 9. Bxc3 dxc3 10. Ne4 Nc6 11. Nxc3 Bh6+ 12. Kb1 Nxe5 13. Nd5 Kf8 14.
f4 Nc6 15. g4 d6 16. h3 Bd7 17. Bg2 Rc8 18. Nf3 Bg7 19. Rhf1 b5 20. Nh4 e6 21.
Ne3 Ke7 22. f5 Ne5 23. Nf3 Rc3 24. Rde1 Rhc8 25. Nd4 Bf6 26. Re2 a5 27. Nf3 Bg7
28. Ng5 Bh6 29. f6+ Kf8 30. h4 Kg8 31. Rd1 Bc6 32. Rxd6 Bxg2 33. Nxg2 Nxg4 34.
Ne4 Rf3 35. Rb6 b4 36. a3 bxa3 37. Ra6 Nxf6 38. Nxf6+ Rxf6 39. Rxa5 Rf1+ 40.
Ne1 Rd8 41. Ka2 Rd1 42. Kxa3 Ra1+ 43. Kb4 Bf8+ 0-1

 

In the biggest upset of the day, Tamil Nadu's unseeded Bala Kannamma P (6.5 points-rating 1977) playing an excellent middle and endgame on the fifth board with white pieces shocked the present Commonwealth women's champion and third seed in the tournament WGM Swati Ghate (LIC-rating 2278) in 64 moves. In another upset win unseeded Andhra Pradesh player G.Sandhya (Rating 1873-6.5 points) shocked WGM Aarathie Ramaswamy (Air India-5.5 points). Sandhya had already beaten Michelle Catherina in the previous round. So this is turning out to be a great event for the girl from Tamil Nadu.

 

WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB), the second seed after her 42 move win over WFM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) is ranked third with 7 points from nine rounds. Ten players are tied with 6.5 points and are placed from fourth to thirteenth in the rankings after the ninth round. Fourth seeded IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB-6.5 points) scored a good win over Makhija Aashna (Mah) in 31 moves, while WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) and WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (AI) were involved in a 64-move drawn encounter. Srishti Pandey (Mah), WCM Jyotsna (TN), WIM Pranali S Dharia (Mah), WIM Chitlange Sakshi (Mah) scored good wins over their respective rivals.

Results of round 9

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Club/City Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg Club/City No.
1 30 WFM Lakshmi C 1952 TN 0 - 1 WGM Kulkarni Bhakti 2255 AI 5
2 7 WIM Nandhidhaa Pv 2221 AAI 6 0 - 1 WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2349 PSPB 1
3 2 WGM Gomes Mary Ann 2331 PSPB 6 1 - 0 6 WFM Arpita Mukherjee 2100 WB 19
4 13 WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 2170 LIC 6 ½ - ½ 6 WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman 2181 AI 10
5 25   Bala Kannamma P 1977 TN 1 - 0 WGM Swati Ghate 2278 LIC 3
6 4 IM Mohota Nisha 2271 PSPB 1 - 0   Makhija Aashna 1947 MAH 31
7 32   Pandey Srishti 1930 MAH 1 - 0   Harshita Guddanti 2180 AP 11
8 27 WCM Jyothsna L 1964 TN 1 - 0 WIM Mahalakshmi M 2154 TN 15
9 33   Shetye Siddhali 1920 MAH 0 - 1 WIM Parnali S Dharia 2140 MAH 16
10 18 WIM Chitlange Sakshi 2112 MAH 1 - 0   Kaur Palkin 1723 DEL 47

Complete results

Rank after round 9:

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Club/City Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 1 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2349 PSPB 7,5 0,0 49,5 54,5
2 5 WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2255 AI 7,5 0,0 46,5 50,5
3 2 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2331 PSPB 7,0 0,0 50,5 55,5
4 30 WFM Lakshmi C IND 1952 TN 6,5 0,0 49,0 53,0
5 13 WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty IND 2170 LIC 6,5 0,0 47,0 51,0
6 16 WIM Parnali S Dharia IND 2140 MAH 6,5 0,0 45,5 49,0
7 10 WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman IND 2181 AI 6,5 0,0 45,0 49,0
8 4 IM Mohota Nisha IND 2271 PSPB 6,5 0,0 44,0 48,5
9 38   Sandhya G IND 1873 AP 6,5 0,0 44,0 47,5
10 25   Bala Kannamma P IND 1977 TN 6,5 0,0 43,5 47,0

Complete list of ranking

Pairing for round 10:

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

Complete pairing list 

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.


Contact Us