Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout of Orissa moved into sole lead with an upset win over top seed International Master Tania Sachdev (Air India) in the sixth round of the Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011 being held at Media Centre, Nehru Stadium, Periamet, Chennai, India.
Padmini with 5.0 points, now holds half a point lead over Tania Sachdev, who remains in 4.5 points. Sharing the third spot with 4.0 points were WGMs Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB), S Meenakshi (AI), Mary Ann Gomes (AAI), Swathi Ghate (LIC), IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) and Pratyusha Bodda (AP) respectively.
Padmini faced the unusual Schliemann-Jaenisch variation in the Ruy Lopez from Tania, and took her time to come up with a game plan. By move 11 queens were off the board, and a positional fight ensued with a rook and two minor pieces.
Having given up a pawn early in the game, Tania found herself in the defensive, and barely managed to complete the 40 moves requirement within the stipulated time. But, by then the two time National Women champion’s position had weakened, and gradually Padmini advanced two of her passed pawns closer to the queening square. Caught up with further loss of material Tania resigned on the 50th move.
Other key top board games between, Mary Ann Gomes – Sowmya Swaminathan, Pratyusha Bodda – Nisha Mohota, A G Nimmy – S Meenakshi, ended in draws.
Tamil Nadu’s Woman FIDE Master J Saranya defeated Woman International Master Bhakti Kulkarni, inflicting a third consecutive defeat on the Goan girl. The Kings Indian game between the duo, saw a complicated middle game, from which Saranya emerged with an advantage. Deft maneuvers with her queen, rook and minor pieces, gave the Tamil Nadu girl the winning edge, after four hours of play. Faced with a forced mate, Bhakti resigned on the 59th turn.
The second half of the event resumes the day after, with Norm chances resting on Pratyusha Bodda (AP), J Saranya and S Harini ( both TN) and A G Nimmy (Kerala).
Top pairings for the seventh round are: Meenakshi – Padmini, Tania – Pratyusha, Swathi – Mary Ann, Nisha – Sowmya, Divyasree – Nimmy.
Friday is a day of rest, as round seven resumes on Saturday.
WGM Padmini Rout – IM Tania Sachdev
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Qe2 fxe4 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Qxe4 Nf6 7.Qxe5 Be7 8.d4 O-O 9.O-O Bd6 10.Qe2 Qe8 11.Qxe8 Rxe8 12.Bg5 Bg4 13.Nbd2 Re2 14.Rfe1 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Rxe1 16.Rxe1 Rf8 17.c4 Nh5 18.Re4 Rf5 19.Be3 Nf6 20.c5 Bf8 21.Rf4 Rxf4 22.Bxf4 Nd5 23.Be5 b6 24.cxb6 cxb6 25.a3 Kf7 26.f4 Ke6 27.Kg2 Nf6 28.Kf3 Kd5 29.h3 c5 30.dxc5 Bxc5 31.Nf1 Kc4 32.Ne3 Kd3 33.Ng4 Be7 34.Bc3 b5 35.Ne5 Kc2 36.Bd4 a6 37.Nc6 Bf8 38.Ke3 Nd5 39.Ke4 Nf6 40.Kf5 Bd6 41.Be5 Bc5 42.b4 Bxf2 43.Bxf6 gxf6 44.Kxf6 Kb3 45.Kg7 Kxa3 46.f5 a5 47.bxa5 b4 48.f6 b3 49.f7 Bc5 50.a6 1-0
WIM Bhakti Kulkarni – WFM Saranya J
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 Nc6 7.d5 Nb8 8.O-O Nbd7 9.Qc2 Re8 10.Bg5 h6 11.Be3 e5 12.Nd2 a5 13.a3 c5 14.b4 b6 15.Rfb1 Rf8 16.Ra2 Kh8 17.Rab2 Ne8 18.bxc5 bxc5 19.Bd3 Ndf6 20.Rb8 Rxb8 21.Rxb8 Ng4 22.Nf1 f5 23.f3 Ngf6 24.Qb1 Nd7 25.Ra8 f4 26.Bd2 Nb6 27.Ra7 Bd7 28.Ra6 Nc8 29.Nb5 g5 30.Bxa5 Qe7 31.Be2 h5 32.Qd1 g4 33.fxg4 Nf6 34.Qd3 hxg4 35.Nc3 Nh5 36.Ra8 f3 37.gxf3 Nf4 38.Qc2 Qh4 39.Ng3 Nh3 40.Kg2 Nf4 41.Kh1 Nh3 42.Nd1 Bh6 43.Rb8 Bf4 44.Be1 Rf7 45.Rb7 Rh7 46.Bf1 Ng5 47.Rxd7 Rxd7 48.fxg4 Nf3 49.Qf2 Nxe1 50.Qxe1 Rh7 51.Kg2 Qxh2 52.Kf3 Bxg3 53.Qa5 Rf7 54.Ke3 Qh6 55.Ke2 Qf4 56.Bg2 Qxg4 57.Kd2 Be1 58.Kxe1 Qxg2 59.Qd8 Kg7 0-1
Results Round 6:
Padmini Rout (Ori) 5 bt Tania Sachdev (AI) 4.5, Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) 4 drew with Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB) 4, Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 4 drew with Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 4, A G Nimmy (Ker) 3.5 drew with S Meenakshi (AI) 4, S Harini (TN) 3 lost to Swathi Ghate (LIC) 4, Sai Meera (IB) 3.5 drew with Chandika Divyasree (AP) 3.5, Aarthie Ramaswamy (AI) 2.5 lost to Eesha Karavade (Mah) 3.5, Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 2.5 lost to J Saranya (TN) 3.5, C Sahajasri (AP) 3 drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) 3, R Bharathi (TN) 3 bt Shweta Gole (Mah) 2.5, P Bala Kannamma (TN) 2.5 drew with Pon N Krithika (TN) 2.5, A Akshaya (TN) 2 drew with M Mahalakshmi (TN) 2.5, Madhurima Shekhar (Del) 1.5 lost to P Michelle Catherina (TN) 2.5, P V Nandhidhaa (TN) 2 bt Swati Mohota (WB) 1.5, Supriya Joshi (Mah) 0.5 Bye.
R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011
