National Women's 2019 R02+03: A juxtaposition of gala and tussle

by Satanick Mukhuty - 21/07/2019

The second day of the 46th National Women Chess Championship 2019 saw celebration amidst struggle. It was a hectic double rounds day with the second round starting at 9 a.m and the third at 4 p.m but the players and organizers still managed to find time for International Chess Day celebration. Speaking of the games, round-2 gave quite a few surprising results, the most notable among them being WCM Jyothsna L's victory with black pieces over WIM Srija Seshadri. In the same round Nandhini Saripalli also pulled off an upset by beating WIM Pratyusha Bodda. Going into the third round, top-seed IM Soumya Swaminathan was held to a draw by WIM Harshita Guddanti, while the defending Champion Bhakti Kulkarni registered yet another victory by defeating WFM Saranya J. In this report we bring you photos, analyses, and more.

It was a hectic double rounds day at the 46th National Women's Championship but the players still managed to celebrate World Chess Day | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

WCM Jyothsna L. played a nice game with Black pieces to beat WIM Srija Seshadri, who is more than 300 points higher rated than her | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

In the second round of 46th National Women Chess Championship 2019 India's recently minted WGM Srija Seshadri of Tamil Nadu suffered a shocking defeat in the hands of state-mate and WCM Jyothsna L. The latter had the Black pieces and chose the French defense against her opponent's king's pawn opening. The critical mistake of the game came as early as move 11 which gave Black a serious material advantage. On the 17th move however, Srija had an opportunity to make a comeback, but she missed her chance!

Srija Seshadri - Jyothsna L., Round 2

Position after 8...f6: Black wastes no time to challenge White's structure in the center.

Reinforcing the center with 9.f4 is an option here but in the game White adopted a more ambitious plan and went 9.Nf4 with the idea of going Qh5+ next. 9...Nxd4 10.Qh5+ Ke7 was played and here White made the move 11.0-0

White gives up a second pawn on e5 for an attack on the kingside. But is 11.0-0 the best continuation?

A move like 11.Be3 would have been fine, after 11...fxe5 12.Bxd4 exd4 and only now 13.0-0 gives White sufficient compensation for the two pawns as Black's pawns and pieces are in a mess. But 11.0-0? didn't look like the greatest of moves, after 11...Nxe5 12.Nc3 Black didn't have much problems to solve. For instance, with 12...Nxd3 13.Nxd3 g6 14.Qd1 Kf7 the king gets a safe spot on f7 and the pieces find ways to get into the game. However, Jyothsna didn't opt for this continuation and the play went 12...Nc6 13.Re1 Qe8 14.Qh4 Kf7 15.Bxh7 instead. White recovered a pawn, but was this enough?

Position after 15.Bxh7: What is your assessment of this position?

The game followed 15...Bc5 16.b4 and Black pushed 16...g5? - a mistake that gives White the chance to come back into the game. A move like 16...Bd6 would have been good enough to preserve the advantage - 17.Qh5+ Ke7 18.Qxe8 Kxe8 and Black has the edge.

Position after 16...g5: Think about this position for sometime and try to calculate out the possibilities that can get White back into the game.

The correct continuation is 17.Qh5+ Kg7 18.Qxe8+ Rxe8 19. Nh5+ Kxh7 20. Nxf6+ (fork) Kg6 21.Nxe8 and now it looks like White is up an exchange but after 21...Bd4 22.Bd2 Nc4 Black is actually able to pick up another piece and in the resulting position Black, with two minor pieces against a rook, is still better but White has sufficient chances. In the game however, Srija wasn't able to find this and played 17.Qh6 instead. After 17...Bxf2+ 18.Kxf2 gxf4 Jyothsna went onto win the game fairly easily. The full game with annotations is presented below:

Saranya Y (1959), who recently won the second place at Goa GM B-category, held IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (2357) to a draw in what was a 108 moves long game | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Nandhini Saripalli (1933) pulled off another shocker for the day by beating WIM Pratyusha Bodda (2265) | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Another upset came in the form of Nandhini Saripalli defeating WIM Pratyusha Bodda. Nandhini had the White pieces and the game began with an Italian. The following position was reached after move 15.

Nandhini Saripalli - Pratyusha Bodda, Round 2

Position after 15.Nxg6: White has just taken a bishop on g6. How should Black recapture?

15...fxg6 is not possible because then White has 16.Nxe4 and Black can't recapture on e4 because the d5 pawn is pinned. After 16...cxb5 17.Nd6 White is clearly better. The simple 15...Nxg6 would have been the best move but Pratyusha went for the slightly worse 15...hxg6 ruining her kingside pawn-structure. The game followed 16.Bd3 Nf5 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.0-0-0 Nxd4 19. Qc4 c5 20. Nxe4 and White's position started to look good with the knight eying the nice d6 square.

Position after 20.Nxe4: White wants to jump on the d6 square and push f4 seizing more space.

Next, Black decided to go for a liquidation and went 20...Qe7 21.f4 Rfd8 22.Kb1 Qe6 23.Qxe6 Nxe6 24.h4 c4 25.Bxb6 axb6, now the following position was all White's to take.

Black's kingside is hemmed in by White's nice f4-e5 structure. The e4 knight too is prepared to jump on d6 and pick up some pawns on the queenside, after which the a and b pawns will be ready to roll out!

Position after 35...Nh5: White has achieved the desired plan, now there's no stopping the a-pawn. Not long after Black had to call it a day.

WFM Sanskriti Goyal (1948) held WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2303) to a draw with the White pieces. Sanskriti played the Nimzo-Larsen, starting with 1.b3 and going for a double fianchetto, something that Mary also likes to do with the white pieces! | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Dhyana Patel (1900) drew WIM Mahalakshmi M. (2227) playing the black side of Grunfeld defense | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Results of round 2

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2402	PSPB	1	1 - 0	1		Sandhya G	1975	AP	31
2	30		Potluri Saye Srreezza	1999	TEL	1	0 - 1	1	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	AI	2
3	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2373	MAH	1	1 - 0	1		Bakshi Rutuja	1958	MAH	33
4	32		Saranya Y	1959	TN	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2357	AI	4
5	5	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2306	TN	1	0 - 1	1	WCM	Jyothsna L	1939	TN	35
6	34	WFM	Sanskriti Goyal	1948	UP	1	½ - ½	1	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2303	PSPB	6
7	36		Nandhini Saripalli	1933	GOA	1	1 - 0	1	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2265	AP	8
8	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2259	TN	1	1 - 0	1		Toshali V	1920	AP	37
9	38	WFM	Meghna C H	1903	RSPB	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2243	DEL	10
10	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2227	RSPB	1	½ - ½	1	WFM	Dhyana Patel	1900	GUJ	39
11	40		Pandey Srishti	1882	MAH	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2226	TN	12
12	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	2221	PSPB	1	1 - 0	1	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	1873	AP	41
13	42		Shetye Siddhali	1837	MAH	1	½ - ½	1		Priyanka K	2217	TN	14
14	43		Sunyuktha C M N	1815	TN	1	1 - 0	1	WCM	Sharma Isha	2188	KAR	16
15	44		Singh Neha	1809	BIH	1	0 - 1	1	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2163	AI	18
16	19	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2145	MAH	1	0 - 1	1		Sunyasakta Satpathy	1801	ODI	45
17	46		Smaraki Mohanty	1773	ODI	1	0 - 1	1	WFM	Jain Nityata	2135	MP	20
18	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	2093	MAH	1	1 - 0	1		Sheena E.	1763	KER	47
19	22	WIM	Varshini V	2087	TN	1	½ - ½	1		Shah Vishwa	1734	MAH	49
20	23	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	2078	AP	1	1 - 0	1		Boramanikar Tanisha S	1720	MAH	51

Standings after round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	PSPB	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	-0,21
	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2259	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,39
	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2243	DEL	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,45
	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	IND	2226	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	-0,06
	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2221	PSPB	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	-0,15
	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2163	AI	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	-0,10
	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	IND	2135	MP	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,31
	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2093	MAH	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,35
	23	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	IND	2078	AP	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,55
	25	WFM	Saranya J	IND	2067	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,03
	26	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2054	LIC	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	0,58
	27		Bala Kannamma P	IND	2051	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	2,0	2,00	2	-0,09
13	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2388	AI	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,5	1,50	2	0,30
14	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2373	MAH	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	-0,21
	28	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2020	AI	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	0,42
	29		Meenal Gupta	IND	2004	J&K	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	0,03
	35	WCM	Jyothsna L	IND	1939	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	1,32
	36		Nandhini Saripalli	IND	1933	GOA	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	1,25
	43		Sunyuktha C M N	IND	1815	TN	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	0,85
	45		Sunyasakta Satpathy	IND	1801	ODI	2,0	0,0	1,0	1,0	1,00	2	0,73

Round 3 - Five players take lead with 3.0/3

After the third round five players - WIM Nandhidhaa P V, WIM Vantika Agrawal, WFM Nityata Jain, WIM Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay, and WGM Bhakti Kulkarni - have emerged as leaders with 3.0/3 each. Surprising result came from first board where WIM Harshita Guddanti held top-seed IM Soumya Swaminathan to a draw.

WIM Harshita Guddanti played a solid game with the White pieces to hold the top-seed of the event to a draw. Did you know Harshita is a former national under-15 champion? | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

IM Bhakti Kulkarni, the defending champion of the event, has emerged as one of the leaders with 3.0/3. In the third round she beat WFM Saranya J with the white pieces | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Bhakti Kulkarni - Saranya J, Round 3

Position after 42.Qd3: Black went 42...Nc7 here, can you do better?

The best way to offer resistance would have been 42...Qc1+ 43.Kh2 Ne3, but 42...Nc7 is a mistake as now White has 43.Bd2 Qe5 44.Qc4+

Position after 44.Qc4+ - Now the h4 pawn is falling.

Position after 52.Qxf4 - White picked up another pawn, Black resigned after just four moves from here

Playing Caro-Kann with the black pieces WIM Bhagyashree Sathe Thipsay won against Sunyasakta Satpathy. It's quite amazing to see Bhagyahsree fighting with the youngsters at the age of 58.| Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

WIM Nandhidhaa P V won against Meenal Gupta playing a Sicilian Paulsen with black pieces. Nandhidhaa who recently scored an IM norm at the Paracin Chess Festival is definitely one of the favourites to win the title here. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Results of round 3

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	23	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	2078	AP	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2402	PSPB	1
2	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	AI	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Saranya J	2067	TN	25
3	26	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2054	LIC	2	½ - ½	2	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2373	MAH	3
4	29		Meenal Gupta	2004	J&K	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2259	TN	9
5	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2243	DEL	2	1 - 0	2		Bala Kannamma P	2051	TN	27
6	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2226	TN	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	2020	AI	28
7	35	WCM	Jyothsna L	1939	TN	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Mohota Nisha	2221	PSPB	13
8	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2163	AI	2	½ - ½	2		Nandhini Saripalli	1933	GOA	36
9	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	2135	MP	2	1 - 0	2		Sunyuktha C M N	1815	TN	43
10	45		Sunyasakta Satpathy	1801	ODI	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	2093	MAH	21
11	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2357	AI	1½	1 - 0	1½	WFM	Sanskriti Goyal	1948	UP	34
12	6	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2303	PSPB	1½	½ - ½	1½		Saranya Y	1959	TN	32
13	49		Shah Vishwa	1734	MAH	1½	0 - 1	1½	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2227	RSPB	11
14	14		Priyanka K	2217	TN	1½	1 - 0	1½		Thamaraiselvi P	1752	TN	48
15	39	WFM	Dhyana Patel	1900	GUJ	1½	½ - ½	1½	WIM	Varshini V	2087	TN	22
16	24	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	2074	MAH	1½	1 - 0	1½		Shetye Siddhali	1837	MAH	42
17	59		Senthamizh Yazhini S	1622	TN	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2306	TN	5
18	60		Mudaliar Nandini	1609	GUJ	1	0 - 1	1	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	AP	7
19	8	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2265	AP	1	1 - 0	1		Panda Miracle	1605	ODI	62
20	61		Aishwarya	1607	DEL	1	0 - 1	1	WGM	Swati Ghate	2192	LIC	15

Standings after round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2259	TN	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0	5,00	3	0,39
	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2243	DEL	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0	5,00	3	0,45
	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	IND	2135	MP	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0	5,00	3	0,31
	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2093	MAH	3,0	0,0	4,0	5,0	5,00	3	0,35
5	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2388	AI	3,0	0,0	4,0	4,5	4,50	3	0,30
6	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	PSPB	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	-0,21
	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2373	MAH	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	-0,21
	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	IND	2226	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	-0,06
	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2221	PSPB	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	-0,15
	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2163	AI	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	-0,10
	23	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	IND	2078	AP	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	0,55
	26	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2054	LIC	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	0,58
	35	WCM	Jyothsna L	IND	1939	TN	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	1,32
	36		Nandhini Saripalli	IND	1933	GOA	2,5	0,0	4,5	5,5	4,25	2	1,25
15	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2357	AI	2,5	0,0	4,0	5,5	4,50	2	-0,26
	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2227	RSPB	2,5	0,0	4,0	5,5	4,50	2	-0,21
17	14		Priyanka K	IND	2217	TN	2,5	0,0	3,5	5,0	4,25	2	-0,25
18	28	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2020	AI	2,5	0,0	3,5	3,5	2,25	2	0,42
19	24	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	IND	2074	MAH	2,5	0,0	3,0	4,0	3,25	2	-0,09
20	29		Meenal Gupta	IND	2004	J&K	2,0	0,0	5,0	6,0	3,00	2	0,0

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