WGM Mary Ann Gomes of Airport Authority of India drew with International Master Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra, maintaining her lead after the tenth and penultimate round of the Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011 being held at Media Centre, Nehru Stadium, Periamet, Chennai here today.
Mary Ann Gomes kept the top spot with 7.5 points, and the second place is shared by IM Eesha Karavade (Maharashtra) and WGM Padmini Rout (Orissa) at 7.0 point apiece.
Mary Ann Gomes requiring just a draw to make her third and final International Master Norm, got just that with dynamic play against Eesha Karavade. Mary made Eesha face the Benoni opening, and started rolling her pawns early in the game. By the turn of an hour, Mary had achieved more than equality.
A rook for bishop sacrifice on the 23rd move, to cull out the advantage, showed her deep middle game calculation. Just when the game was poised for a big push, Mary surprised Eesha with a draw offer, which the Pune player accepted.
IM Eesha Karavade facing WGM Mary Ann Gomes in the top board
Mary Ann Gomes has two International Master Norms to her credit, the first one coming from Paris Open 2009 at France and the second one from Czech Open 2010 at Pardubice, Czech Republic. She would now need to fulfill the rating requirement of ELO 2400, after which she would be awarded the title of International Master.
The second and third boards saw higher rated players viz., Padmini Rout and Tania Sachdev escape defeat narrowly. Padmini was let off by her Orissa state-mate Kiran Manisha Mohanty, who had a clear two pawn advantage in a rook and pawn ending after four hours and 65 moves of play. Padmini’s resilience paid dividends, as Kiran misplayed the ending and drew the game after 97 moves.
WGMs Padmini Rout & Kiran Manisha Mohanty
In a similar situation, Chandika Divyasree let a golden opportunity to down top seed International Master Tania Sachdev. The unorthodox Sicilian game saw the Andhra girl gaining ground slowly but surely. Time pressure that has been troubling Tania right though, played its role today.
On completion of the first time control, Tania found herself in a clear minus position, with two pawns down in a rook and pawn ending. Rugged play by Divyasree, coupled with never-give-up play of Tania fetched the two time former Champion a crucial half point, after 100 painstaking moves.
Divyasree, despite missing a possible win against Tania, got her maiden Woman International Master norm thanks her draw today.
Maiden Woman International Master Norm for Chandika Divyasree
Championship leader Mary Ann Gomes watching the second board game between WGMs Padmini Rout & Kiran Manisha Mohanty
WGM Sowmya Swaminathan facing birthday girl Michelle Catherina
Crucial final round pairings are : Mary Ann – Kiran, Eesha – Padmini, Tania – Sai Meera, Nisha – Divyasree, Sowmya – Nimmy, Meenakshi – Bharathi.
IM Eesha Karavade – WGM Mary Ann Gomes
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nge2 Bg7 8.Ng3 O-O 9.Be2 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.O-O Re8 12.f3 Qc7 13.Be3 h5 14.Qd2 Nh7 15.Nh1 f5 16.Nf2 Ndf6 17.Bd3 Bd7 18.exf5 gxf5 19.Rae1 c4 20.Bb1 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Nh3 b4 23.Ne2 Rxe3 24.Qxe3 Nxd5 25.Qf2 Qa7 26.Qxa7 Rxa7 27.Ng3 Bd4 28.Kh1 Ne3 29.Rg1 h4 30.Nh5 c3 1/2-1/2
Results Round 10:
Eesha Karavade (Mah) 7 drew with Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) 7.5, Padmini Rout (Ori) 7 drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) 6, Chandika Divyasree (AP) 6 drew with Tania Sachdev (AI) 6.5, Sai Meera (IB) 6 drew with Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 6, Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB) 5.5 drew with P Michelle Catherina (TN) 5.5, Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 5.5 drew with Meenakshi Subbaraman (AI) 5.5, R Bharathi (TN) 5.5 drew with Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 5.5, Pon N Krithika (AICF) 5 drew with Swathi Ghate (LIC) 5, A G Nimmy (Ker) 5.5 bt Aarthie Ramaswamy (AI) 4.5, P Bala Kannamma (TN) 4.5 drew with J Saranya (TN) 4.5, Cholleti Sahajasri (AP) 4.5 drew with A Akshaya (TN) 4.5, S Harini (TN) 5 bt M Mahalakshmi (TN) 4, Supriya Joshi (Mah) 2 lost to Swathi Mohota (WB) 4.5, Shweta Gole (Mah) 4 drew with Madhurima Shekhar (Del) 2.5, P V Nandhidhaa (TN) 3 – Bye.
R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011
