CHENNAI: Young Andhra girl Pratyusha Bodda shared the lead with five others at the end of the third round of the Velammal Educational Trust 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship on Monday.
Bodda joined International Masters Tania Sachdev (Delhi) and Nisha Mohota (PSPB), Woman Grandmasters Meenakshi Subbaraman(IA) and Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) and Candidate Master Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) to lead the table with 2.5 points.
During the last three rounds, Bodda was the impressive winner as she continued her relentless aggression and used her extra exchange to good effect to launch a fierce kingside attack to finish off the hapless Swathi in 42 moves.
In the first three rounds, Bodda has been the toast of the championship, with two WGM scalps, and is poised to get a norm during the course of the championships.
On Monday, Bodda employed the Bishop's opening against WGM Swathi Ghate of Maharashtra and played a fluent middle game, attacking the Black centre and the kingside to win an exchange on the 18th move.
WGMs Subbaraman and Gomes played out an equal exchange variation of the Slav defence to draw the game in 30 moves on the top table.
In the second table, Mohota, who faced the Leningrad Dutch employed by Bhakti Kulkarni gained space on the queenside, but with the pieces getting traded at regular intervals, an equal double bishop ending arose.
Mohota tried to force through matters but young Bhakti was up to the mark in defence and the game was drawn in 61 moves.
The top seed IM Tania was in her element on Monday in her game against Nimmy George of Kerala. Facing a Slav opening, Tania, playing white, outplayed her opponent in the opening phase itself to gain a huge advantage in the middlegame.
She controlled the whole board in a masterly way and broke through Nimmy's defences in style, sacrificing her queen. Tania then doubled her rooks on the eighth rank to force an unavoidable mate.
Defending champion Soumya Swaminathan employed the Benoni set-up against another Andhra girl Sahajasri. Soumya, playing Black, tried every trick in her bag to notch up a full point. She even sacrificed an exchange to drum up an attack against the white king.
But in an interesting position, with time ticking away, Soumya started repeating the moves, apparently in a bid to gain some time.
But Sahajasri was quick to spot a three-fold repetition and made a claim with the arbiters, and when it was established that there was indeed a three-fold repetition in the game, the game was declared drawn.
The second seeded player in the event, WGM Padmini Rout, finally scored a win in her third game against R Bharathi. Padmini, playing Black, employed the popular Najdorj-Dragon setup of the Sicilian defence to outplay Bharathi in 48 moves.
Results: (Round 3): S Meenakshi (IA) 2.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes (AAI) 2.5, Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 2.5 drew with Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 2.5, Tania Sachdev (Del) 2.5 bt A G Nimmy (Ker) 1.5, Eesha Karavade (Mah) 2 drew with J Saranya (TN) 2, Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 2.5 bt Swathi Ghate (LIC) 1.5, R Bharathi (TN) lost to Padmini Rout (Ori) 2, C Sahajasri (AP) 1.5 drew with Sowmya Swaminathan (PSPB) 1.5, Pon N Krithika (AICF) 2 bt Aarthie Ramaswamy (IA) 1, C Divyasree (AP) 1 lost to S Harini (TN) 2, Shweta Gole (Mah) 1.5 drew with Sai Meera (IB) 1.5, Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) 1.5 bt M Mahalakshmi (TN) 1, Swati Mohota (WB) 0.5 lost to A Akshaya (TN) 1.5, P Michelle Catherina (TN) 0.5 drew with Bagyashree Thipsay (AICF) 1, Madhurima Shekhar (Del) lost to P V Nandhidhaa (TN) 1, P Bala Kannamma (TN) 1 bt Supriya Joshi (Mah).
Source: The Times of India.
Source: The Times of India.
