Who will win the National Women's Championships 2019?

by Satanick Mukhuty - 19/07/2019

The 46th National Women Chess Championship 2019 kick started today in the Chettinad Public School of Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and will continue until the 27th of July. Organized by Castle Chess Academy, it is an eleven rounds swiss event following a time control of 90 Minutes for the first 40 moves plus 30 Minutes for rest of the game with 30 seconds increment from move one. An impressive prize fund of Rs. 15,00,000/- has attracted a total of 106 participants from all over the country, including 2 International Masters, 7 Women Grandmasters, 13 Women International Masters, and 8 Women Fide Masters. In this report we bring you glimpses of the vibrant opening ceremony and first round's action. We also have a little contest for you, who do you think will win the national championships? The correct answer will get a special prize.

The inauguration - A colourful start!

The RDO of Sivagangai District, Shri. Sankaranarayanan inaugurated the event along with Honourable Vice President of FIDE, Shri. DV Sundar and AICF Secretary Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan. The occasion was also graced by the presence of Shri. RM Dongre, President Asian Zone 3.7; Shri Balaji, Tehsildar Karaikudi Town; Shri. Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary Tamil Nadu State Chess Association; Shri SP Kumaresan, Chairman Chettinad Public School and Shri Arun Kumar, Vice Chairman Chettinad Public School.

The event started off with an vibrant opening ceremony!

There are 97 International Rated Chess players from 23 States/Affiliated units competing in this event!

Most games begin with 1.e4 e5!!

The Games - Priyanka Nutakki, Swati Ghate, and Sakshi Chitlange suffer upsets

Shocking upsets came in the first round as Women International Master Priyanka Nutakki went down to Tamil Nadu's Senthamizh Yazhini, while Women Grandmaster Swati Ghate suffered defeat in the hands of 1538 rated Women Fide Master Bindu Sarith K. of the LIC. Sakshi Chitlange lost to Ananya Arumbakkam.

Women International Master Priyanka Nutakki (2293) lost 18.4 rating points losing to her 1622 rated opponent | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

The former Women National Champion Swati Ghate will be looking to make a comeback in the subsequent rounds | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Another surprising result of the day came from Ananya Arumbakkam versus WIM Sakshi Chitlange, where the former a 1500 rated 13 years old player, outwitted her higher-rated opponent's Caro-Kann defense.

Almost all other top seeded players registered easy victories against their lower-rated opponents in the opening round. We bring you some more snaps of the players in action.

Bhakti Kulkarni, the defending champion, beat Ananya Bothra on the second board | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Soumya Swaminathan, the top seed of the event, defeated Nanditha V | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Fresh from her under-15 nationals victory, 13-year-old Divya Deshmukh is the third seed. She winning the national title at such a young age would surely be big news! Divya beat Ananya Vora on the third board with Black pieces | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Legendary IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman defeated WCM Chinnam Vyshnavi | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Vantika Agrawal defeated Panda Miracle | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Mahalakshmi M. won against Nisha N. Patkar | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Nandhidhaa P V, who recently scored her IM norm at the Paracin Open 2019, won against Aishwarya | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Bagyashree Sathe Thipsay defeated Sneha Bharathakoti | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Results of round 1

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	53		Nanditha V	1687	0	0 - 1	0	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2402	1
2	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	0	1 - 0	0		Ananya Bothra	1681	54
3	55		Vora Ananya	1674	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2373	3
4	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2357	0	1 - 0	0	WCM	Chinnam Vyshnavi	1664	56
5	57		Yash Jyoti Bir	1646	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2306	5
6	6	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2303	0	1 - 0	0		Shriya R Revankar	1627	58
7	59		Senthamizh Yazhini S	1622	0	1 - 0	0	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	7
8	8	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2265	0	1 - 0	0		Mudaliar Nandini	1609	60
9	61		Aishwarya	1607	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2259	9
10	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2243	0	1 - 0	0		Panda Miracle	1605	62
11	63		Nisha N. Patkar	1596	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2227	11
12	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2226	0	1 - 0	0		Renganayaki V	1583	64
13	65		Kavitha P L	1580	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Mohota Nisha	2221	13
14	14		Priyanka K	2217	0	1 - 0	0		Rindhiya V	1573	66
15	67	WFM	Bindu Saritha K.	1538	0	1 - 0	0	WGM	Swati Ghate	2192	15
16	16	WCM	Sharma Isha	2188	0	1 - 0	0		Arunika Ghosh	1531	68
17	69		Ananya Arumbakkam	1500	0	1 - 0	0	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2168	17
18	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2163	0	1 - 0	0		Genita Gladys A	1456	70
19	71		Anjitha Krishnakumar	1440	0	0 - 1	0	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2145	19
20	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	2135	0	1 - 0	0		Mishra Riya	1430	72

Standings after round 1

k.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	PSPB	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2388	AI	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2373	MAH	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2357	AI	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	5	WIM	Srija Seshadri	IND	2306	TN	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	6	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2303	PSPB	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	8	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2265	AP	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2259	TN	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2243	DEL	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2227	RSPB	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	IND	2226	TN	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2221	PSPB	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	14		Priyanka K	IND	2217	TN	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	16	WCM	Sharma Isha	IND	2188	KAR	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2163	AI	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	19	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	IND	2145	MAH	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08
	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	IND	2135	MP	1,0	0,0	0,0	0,0	0,00	1	0,08

A Contest!

The National women's championships 2019 is an exciting tournament with the best in Indian chess taking part. You have the experienced Soumya, Bhakti, Viji, Mary and others and at the same time you also have the young blood Divya, Srija, Vantika, Priyanka etc. It will be a highly interesting tournament to follow. Who do you think will win this and what will be winner's score. The one who gets both the things right will win three months of ChessBase Premium Account worth Rs.499/- from ChessBase India. Please let us know your answer in the comments section below. The contest ends on 20th of July 2019 midnight.

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