MPL 35th National U-9 Round 8-9: Pratitee takes sole lead

Pratitee Bordoloi emerges as sole leader in girls

Before Round 8, the sole leader of the girls' section was Sharvaanica AS (1050, TN), and Pratitee Bordoloi (1201, Karnataka) was trailing by just half a point. Pratitee's Round 8 win against Sharvaanica ensured him the top spot.

MPL National U9 Round 8 Open: Pratitee Bordoloi - Sharvaanica AS : 1-0

After getting a very comfortable position out of the Caro-Kann, Sharvaanica suddenly made a tactical error deep into the middlegame. Pratitee spotted the mistake quite nimbly and found the refutation!

The idea of 31...Bxa3 looks like to be winning a pawn, as it seems after 32. bxa3 Rd3 you're winning back the White knight. But this is something Sharvaanica completely missed - Pratitee played the fantastic 33. Re8+!

In the game, Sharvaanica continued with 33... Kh7, but now comes 34. Qxd3+!, another very nice move found by Pratitee. After 34...Qxd3 35. Rxc8,White has Two Rooks and a Knight for a Queen - essentially a piece up. Pratitee went on to win the game without any troubles.

Diya Digamber Sawal - Alankrita Sharma: 1-0

The biggest upset of the round was Diya Digamber Sawal (1115, Goa) taking down the top seed of the girls section, Alankrita Sharma (1419, Jammu and Kashmir). In a position arising from the scotch gambit where it seemed that Alankrita had the upper hand out of the opening, she suddenly started making mistakes.

The decisive blunder came on move 23...Nd5 was a big mistake, but Black's position was already very shaky.

White is now a pawn up in a simple position, the Black pieces are inactive and the king is week. Diya went on to win the game comfortably.

Round 8 Open: Aarav Sarbalia - Visruth B: 1-0

Visruth B (1346, TN) actually built up a pretty powerful attack against Aarav Sarbalia (1458, Karnataka)'s King in a Queenless middlegame. However, he couldn't find the correct continuation to bring his attack into fruition.

In this position, Black had a very nice move ...h4+! with the idea that if Kxh4, then comes Re3!! with unstoppable mate by Rh8. But Visruth played 40...Re3+ and the position slowly fizzled out to be equal. In a drawn Rook and pawn endgame, Visruth was the last player to blunder:

50...bxa5 was the decisive blunder by Visruth. It was important to just activate the Black king further by ...Kg5, and Black is doing completely fine after a6 Kf4 a7 Re8 Ra2 Ra8.But after 50...bxa5 51. bxa5, White has just got a remote passed pawn and the Black king is on g6 still. Aarav displayed excellent technique to put this win in the bag.

Aditya Shripad Joshi - Madhavendra Pratap Sharma: 0-1

Madhavendra Pratap Sharma (1585, MP) played a very nice game from the getgo to take down Aditya Shripad Joshi ( 1368, MAH). Playing with the Black pieces, Madhavendra got an advantageous position straight from the opening and just kept increasing the pressure methodically to convert the game into a win. Check out the PGN and Madhavendra's interview below to go through the critical variations:

MPL National U9 Round 9 Girls: Shashini Puvi - Pratitee Bordoloi: 0-1

Pratitee Bordoloi (1201, Karnataka) continued her impressive winning streak and staying at the sole lead by taking down Shashini Puvi (1130, Maharashtra). Winning a pawn midway through a Queenless middlegame, Pratitee made excellent use of her Bishop pair to wreak havoc over the White position.

Samhita Pungavanam - Aadya Ranganath: 0-1

This was a marathon battle of 86 moves - the longest game of the 9th round. Aadya Ranganath (1327, Karnataka) actually built up quite a big advantage relatively quickly, eventually winning the exchange and having a technically winning endgame against Samhita Pungavanam (1095, Telangana). But time pressure was detrimental to her quality of play - in an easily winning position, unnecessary complications arose where Samhita had drawing chances in some positions. However, time trouble was mutual - Samhita had even lesser time than her opponent, and Aadya went on to use that to her advantage and finally take home the full point. Check out the PGN below for all the important variations:

Round 9 Open: Arjun Vasireddy - Aarav Sarbalia: 0-1 

Aarav Sarbalia (1458, Karnataka) is showing his class in the Open section - he is winning one game after another in the top board, ensuring the sole lead stays with him. His win against Arjun Vasireddy (1375, Andhra Pradesh) was a sublime positional effort, where White was dead lost only 20 moves into the game, and resigning by move 30 in a position with no imminent attack, but complete positional destruction.

Photo Gallery

For more photos of Round 8 and 9, click here.

Girls section Round 8-9 games

Open section Round 8-9 games

Standings after Round 9 (Girls)

Full standings

Standings after Round 9 (Open)

Full standings

Round 10 pairings (Open)

Complete pairings

Round 10 pairings (Girls)

Complete pairings

The MPL 35th National U9 Championship 2022 is taking place in Indore Public School. The total prize fund of this mega event is Rs. 5 lakhs. The event is being organized by the Madhya Pradesh State Chess Ad Hoc Committee. This is an 11-round classical event which will run from 25th December 2022 - 2nd January 2023. The time control of the event is 90 minutes +30 seconds increment. Round 10 will be held on New years day, 1st January 2023 from 9:30 AM.

Important links

IPSA Indore Facebook page

IPS Academy Indore YouTube

Indore Public School Facebook

Indore Public School Website

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