National Women's 2019 Round 4: A bedazzling Bhakti performance!

by Satanick Mukhuty - 22/07/2019

The round 4 of the 46th National Women's Championship 2019 was steeped in action. To begin with, upsets were caused by WCM Mrudul Dehankar and Srishti Pandey who beat WIM Mahalakshmi M and WGM Mary Ann Gomes respectively. Take note, Srishti Pandey from Maharashtra is more than 400 points lower rated than Mary! Next, on the top boards WIM Vantika Agrawal won her fourth consecutive game by beating WIM Nandhidhaa P V; IM Soumya Swaminathan also registered an impressive victory over WFM Nityata Jain, but it was Bhakti's performance against WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay on board 1 that stole the show. In this report we bring you photos, analyses, and much more.

Vantika and Bhakti on the lead with 100% after four rounds

Bhagyashree Thipsay versus Bhakti Kulkarni was certainly the game of the day where the latter put up a fine show of finesse and technique | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

IM Bhakti Kulkarni played a scintillating game in the fourth round of 46th National Women's Championship 2019 to beat WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay with the black pieces. It was the Italian opening where on move 16 an exchange of knights on g4 led to doubled pawn on the g-file, Bhakti found an ingenious way to make use of it. White did have a way to defend but WIM Thipsay wasn't quite able to find it. Let's have a look at what happened.

Bhagyashree Thipsay - Bhakti Kulkarni, Round 4

Position after 16.Ng4: White invites an exchange on g4.

Black didn't have anything better other than taking on g4, 16...Nxg4 17.hxg4 was played and now White's h-file was open and the g4 pawn was weak but how to capitalize on this? A move like 17...Qh4, for instance, is easily refuted by 18.Nf5. Well, it was here that Bhakti found an interesting way ahead, she made the move 17...g6!? provoking Bxh6.

What is the idea behind 17...g6?

For starters, 18.Bxh6 isn't possible here because then comes 18...Qh4 followed by Kg7 and Rh8 with an unstoppable attack along the h-file, and next if White chooses to do nothing then 18...Qh4 comes very strongly as White doesn't have Nf5 anymore. The game followed 18.Re1 Qh4 19.Be3 Bxg4 and Black came in with force.

After 19...Bxg4, White had lost a pawn and the game went pretty much downhill for White.

However, Bhagyashree had one way to solve all these problems in the position. The move that she missed was 18.Nf5!! and this was the only move to save the game.

If White had found the brilliant 18.Nf5! then perhaps the result of the game would have been different.

The point is now Qh4 is prevented and if Black takes 18...gxf5 then after 19.gxf5 White either regains the bishop for her knight or after something like 19...Bc8 20.Qh5 Qf6 21.Bxh6 gets sufficient compensation. One can only wonder what would have happened had Bhagyashree played the move Nf5!?

Position after 22...Red8: The presence of Black's strong bishop on g4 meant that the d-file was all Black's to take. Now it was time to slowly switch the attack to the other side of the board.

Position after 25...Qd7: Black maneuvers all her pieces towards the queenside now and proclaims full domination on the d-file

Position after 33...c5: Black lashes out on the queenside

Position after 35...Bc4: Black is going to pick up another pawn!

From the above position the game went 36.Rb1 Rd2 37.Bd1 Bxb5 thanks to the double rook on d-file Black could simply snap off the b5 pawn. It wasn't long after that White resigned in the following position on move 44.

Position after 44.Qa4: It was in this position that White called it a day.

A fine performance by defending champion Bhakti. Is there anyone who can stop her? Replay the full game below:

WIM Vantika Agrawal also beat WIM Nandhidhaa P V playing the Sicilian with black pieces to join Bhakti on the top | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Vantika finished off the game with a nice tactical motif.

Nandhidhaa PV vs Vantika Agrawal

Black to play and finish off the game in style

IM Soumya Swaminathan defeated WFM Nityata Jain who was one of the leaders after round 3. Soumya is now on 3.5/4 along with four other players | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

We have a little quiz for you from Soumya's game!

Soumya Swaminathan - Nityata Jain, Round 4

Position after 11.0-0

White played 11.0-0 and only after 11...Re8 she went 12.Bxc4 Nxc4 13.Qc5 to reach the following position:

Position after 13.Qc5

Notice, Black can't play 13...Nxb2 because of 14.Qb5 trapping the knight! Our question to you is, what would have happened if White went 11.Bxc4 Nxc4 12.Qc5 right away without getting the king castled first? Think about it and then check the answer in the annotation below:

Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman defeated Harshita Gudanti to take her score to 3.5/4 | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

WCM Mrudul Dehankar caused an upset by beating WIM Mahalakshmi M. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Mahalakshmi M. - Mrudul Dehankar, Round 4

White has just played 28.Nh4 threatening the black queen, what has she missed?

In the above position 28...Qg4 followed and after 29.Qxg4 fxg4 the h4 knight was trapped! Black played g5 soon!

Position after 32...g5: Of course, 33.Bxg5 isn't an option because then 33...Rxf2 is simply devastating!

WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman held higher rated WIM Divya Deshmukh to a draw with the Black pieces | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

More Photos

V. Hariharan former AICF secretary inaugurated the fourth round | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

IM Bhakti Kulkarni is in tremendous form can she defend her title this year? | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

WGM Swati Ghate defeated Jyothsna L. today. After her first round loss, Swati has won all her games and is well on track to making a strong comeback. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Nandhini Saripalli is playing well in the tournament. After beating Pratyusha Bodda in round two, she drew with Meenakshi and in round four she drew her game against WIM Michelle Catherina P | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Srishti Pandey (1882) from Maharashtra pulled off a shocker by beating WGM Mary Ann Gomes (2303) | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Srishti Pandey vs Mary Ann Gomes, round 4

...f5 by Mary is one of those moves which looks great on the surface, but in reality does more damage than good. White took on f5 and got a beautiful square on e4 for her knight. Later Srishti played her knight to e3 and the slowly pushed Black back. It was a nice game for the girl from Nagpur.

Results of round 4

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	2093	MAH	3	0 - 1	3	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	AI	2
2	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2259	TN	3	0 - 1	3	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2243	DEL	10
3	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2402	PSPB	2½	1 - 0	3	WFM	Jain Nityata	2135	MP	20
4	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2373	MAH	2½	½ - ½	2½	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2163	AI	18
5	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2357	AI	2½	1 - 0	2½	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	2078	AP	23
6	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2227	RSPB	2½	0 - 1	2½	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	2074	MAH	24
7	36		Nandhini Saripalli	1933	GOA	2½	½ - ½	2½	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2226	TN	12
8	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	2221	PSPB	2½	½ - ½	2½	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2054	LIC	26
9	28	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	2020	AI	2½	1 - 0	2½		Priyanka K	2217	TN	14
10	15	WGM	Swati Ghate	2192	LIC	2	1 - 0	2½	WCM	Jyothsna L	1939	TN	35
11	5	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2306	TN	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Dhyana Patel	1900	GUJ	39
12	40		Pandey Srishti	1882	MAH	2	1 - 0	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2303	PSPB	6
13	7	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	AP	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	1873	AP	41
14	44		Singh Neha	1809	BIH	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2265	AP	8
15	46		Smaraki Mohanty	1773	ODI	2	0 - 1	2	WCM	Sharma Isha	2188	KAR	16
16	19	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2145	MAH	2	0 - 1	2		Sunyuktha C M N	1815	TN	43
17	50		Divyabharathi Masanam	1730	TN	2	0 - 1	2	WIM	Varshini V	2087	TN	22
18	25	WFM	Saranya J	2067	TN	2	0 - 1	2		Sunyasakta Satpathy	1801	ODI	45
19	27		Bala Kannamma P	2051	TN	2	1 - 0	2		Sheena E.	1763	KER	47
20	56	WCM	Chinnam Vyshnavi	1664	AP	2	0 - 1	2		Meenal Gupta	2004	J&K	29

Standings after round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2243	DEL	4,0	0,0	9,0	11,0	11,00	4	0,97
2	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2388	AI	4,0	0,0	8,0	9,5	9,50	4	0,45
3	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2357	AI	3,5	0,0	8,0	10,0	8,50	3	-0,10
4	24	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	IND	2074	MAH	3,5	0,0	7,5	9,5	8,25	3	0,61
5	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	PSPB	3,5	0,0	7,5	8,5	7,25	3	-0,03
6	28	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2020	AI	3,5	0,0	7,5	8,5	7,00	3	1,17
7	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	IND	2226	TN	3,0	0,0	9,5	11,5	8,25	2	-0,41
8	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2259	TN	3,0	0,0	9,5	11,0	7,00	3	-0,13
9	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2093	MAH	3,0	0,0	9,0	11,0	7,00	3	0,20
10	36		Nandhini Saripalli	IND	1933	GOA	3,0	0,0	9,0	10,0	7,00	2	1,60
11	20	WFM	Jain Nityata	IND	2135	MP	3,0	0,0	8,5	10,5	7,00	3	0,13
12	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2373	MAH	3,0	0,0	8,5	9,5	6,50	2	-0,48
13	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2163	AI	3,0	0,0	8,0	10,0	7,00	2	0,17
14	26	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2054	LIC	3,0	0,0	8,0	9,5	6,50	2	0,80
15	43		Sunyuktha C M N	IND	1815	TN	3,0	0,0	8,0	9,0	6,00	3	1,73
16	38	WFM	Meghna C H	IND	1903	RSPB	3,0	0,0	8,0	9,0	5,00	3	0,18
17	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2221	PSPB	3,0	0,0	7,5	9,5	6,75	2	-0,37
18	29		Meenal Gupta	IND	2004	J&K	3,0	0,0	7,5	9,0	6,00	3	0,15
19	30		Potluri Saye Srreezza	IND	1999	TEL	3,0	0,0	7,5	9,0	5,00	3	0,23
20	32		Saranya Y	IND	1959	TN	3,0	0,0	7,5	8,5	5,75	2	1,05

Follow the games live here. 22nd July is a double round day. Morning game will begin at 9 a.m. and the afternoon round will be at 4 p.m.

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