Top seed International Master Tania Sachdev (Air India) moved into sole lead defeating Woman Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) in the fifth round of the Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011 being held at Media Centre, Nehru Stadium, Periamet, Chennai here today.
Tania’s score of 4.5 points, places her half a point above Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout of Orissa. Padmini, who took the second spot scoring over higher seeded WGM Nisha Mohota, now faces top seed Tania in the next round.
Sharing the third spot with 3.5 points were WGMs Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB), S Meenakshi (AI), Mary Ann Gomes (AAI), IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) and Pratyusha Bodda (AP) respectively.
Tournament leader Tania Sachdev
Vizag girl Pratyusha Bodda continued to make waves, as she scored a dynamic miniature win over Woman International Master Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa. Just out of the Caro Kann opening, Bhakti chose for a bishop for knight swap, that allowed Pratyusha occupy the seventh rank with her rook. Subsequent knight foray 17…Ne4 appeared unconvincing, as Pratyusha sacrificed an exchange and pushed for a massive kingside attack. Further inaccurate defensive moves from Bhakti hastened her defeat.
Pratyusha who trains under Rama Raju, coach of Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, has so far played four WGMs & a WIM, with wins over Sowmya Swaminathan, Swathi Ghate and Bhakti Kulkarni. A consistent show in the later half of the event, should possibly net the Andhra girl a Woman Grandmaster Norm.
Pratyusha on way to her upset win over WIM Bhakti Kulkarni
Top seeded International Master Tania Sachdev, had another clinical day in the office, scoring a methodical win over Woman Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes. The Kings Indian game saw Tania consuming more time, but never relinquishing her grip on the position. Exerting consistent pressure, Tania forced Mary Ann into further middle game errors. Conceding a pawn in a weakening position, Mary Ann failed to see the knight trap and resigned on the 37th turn.
Other rating effective results include, Padmini Rout’s fluent win over International Master Nisha Mohota, and Sowmya Swaminathan’s stopping of TN girl Harini and Meenakshi’s industrious win over J Saranya.
Top pairings for the next round are: Padmini-Tania, Mary Ann-Sowmya, Pratyusha-Nisha, Nimmy-Meenakshi, Harini-Swathi.
IM Nisha Mohota got upstaged by WGM Padmini Rout
WGM Sowmya Swaminathan
IM Tania Sachdev – WGM Mary Ann Gomes
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 O-O 6.Nge2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Be2 h5 12.Bg5 Qc7 13.Qd2 c4 14.O-O Rb8 15.Rac1 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.b4 Nh7 18.Be3 h4 19.Nh1 f5 20.Nf2 Qd8 21.f4 fxe4 22.Nfxe4 Ndf6 23.Nf2 Bd7 24.Bf3 Ra8 25.Ra1 Nh5 26.Nfe4 Qe7 27.Rfe1 N7f6 28.Rxa8 Rxa8 29.Ng5 Re8 30.Bf2 Qf8 31.Ne6 Qf7 32.Nxg7 Nxg7 33.Rxe8 Bxe8 34.Bxh4 Nfh5 35.Bg5 Qa7 36.Kf1 Bd7 37.g4 1-0
Pratyusha Bodda – WIM Bhakti Kulkarni
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 Qa5 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.c4 Ngf6 14.O-O-O Be7 15.Rhe1 O-O 16.Nf5 exf5 17.Rxe7 Ne4 18.Nh4 Nxf2 19.Qf3 Nxd1 20.Nxf5 Kh8 21.Kxd1 Rad8 22.c5 g5 23.Nxh6 f6 24.Qf5 1-0
Results Round 5:
Tania Sachdev (AI) 4.5 bt Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) 3.5, Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 3.5 lost to Padmini Rout (Ori) 4, Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB) bt S Harini (TN) 3, J Saranya (TN) 2.5 lost to S Meenakshi (AI) 3.5, Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 3.5 bt Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 2.5, Eesha Karavade (Mah) 2.5 drew with Sai Meera (IB) 3, Swathi Ghate (LIC) 3 bt R Bharathi (TN) 2, Pon N Krithika (AICF) 2 lost to A G Nimmy (Ker) 3, Aarthie Ramaswamy (AI) 2.5 drew with Cholleti Sahajasri (AP) 2.5, Chandika Divyasree (AP) 3 bt P Bala Kannamma (TN) 2, Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) 2.5 bt Swati Mohota (WB) 1.5, Shweta Gole (Mah) 2.5 bt A Akshaya (TN) 1.5, M Mahalakshmi (TN) 2 bt P V Nandhidhaa (TN) 1, P Michelle Catherina (TN) 1.5 bt Supriya Joshi (Mah) 0.5, Madhurima Shekhar (Del) 0.5 Bye.
R R Vasudevan
Press Officer
Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2011
