AICF Gujarat WGM: Aakanksha and Mrudul leads
Aakanksha Hagawane and Mrudul Dehankar lead the ongoing AICF International Women Grandmaster Round Robin tournament after the completion of its penultimate round today. While Mrudul has suffered defeats in the first and eighth rounds of the event, Aakanksha has actually managed to remain unbeaten with four victories and six draws. Thus, even though both players have bagged 7.0/10 points each so far, it is the latter who stands ahead in terms of tie-break scores. Phuong Hanh Luong of Vietnam follows the leaders closely just half a point behind with 6.5/10 and going into the final round will also be looking to grab one of the top places. On the other hand, the Ukrainian WIM Olga Babiy, who started off the tournament with three consecutive powerful victories, has slipped down the rank-list and now shares the fourth place jointly with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.
Aakanksha Hagawane has been super solid in the event and has not lost a single game so far. Mrudul Dehankar, on the other hand, has faltered twice but has bounced back every time with impressive wins over higher-rated opposition. All in all, it is the two Indian players who have come out on the top pulling ahead of the rest of the field by half a point. Aakanksha and Mrudul will face-off each other in the eleventh and final round tomorrow and with that the champion of the tournament will be decided.
We had covered the important moments of rounds one to four in an earlier article on our website. In today's write-up we present the glimpses of exciting action from rounds five to ten. Let us begin by looking at Mrudul's solid victory against Ana Gavasheli of Georgia from the latest round of the event. It is worth mentioning here that the Indian player had lost her game against Priyanka K earlier in round eight and therefore really needed to go for the win with black pieces to get back on the top again.
Ana Gavasheli - Mrudul Dehankar, Round 10
The main alternatives in the above position are 10.Bb2 and 10.h3. The move 10.a4 attempts to dismantle the b6 knight but also incurs dark-square weaknesses on the queenside. So how did the Indian player took advantage of this? The game followed 10...a5 11.Bb2 Qd7 12.Nb5 f6 13.d4 exd4 14.Nfxd4 Nb4 and Black sacrificed her b7 pawn to put her knight on b4 and gain activity in the center.
Note that White didn't have any good alternatives here. For instance, 23.Rd1 f5! 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 25.Nb5 Nxb2 26.Qxb2 Bf6 is only worse and also wins material for Black. Clearly, it was Mrudul who had control of the position at this point and after she won an exchange converting the rest was not so difficult for her. The Georgian resigned the game after fighting on for 53 moves.
Aakanksha Hagawane - Pratyusha Bodda, Round 8
Well, the best continuation here is also the most solid one with 13...N5b6 14.Bb3 Qf6 where the queen takes care of the dark squares on the kingside so that the f8 bishop can be developed next and Black can proceed with castling. In the game however, Pratyusha played 13...Qa5 14.Kh1 g6 and this was certainly a poor way to treat the position. Aakanksha, from here on, played a commendably active game and kept punishing her opponent on every turn.
Mrudul Dehankar - Priyanka K, Round 8
Photo Gallery
Harshini A - Olga Babiy, Round 5
Results of rounds 5-10
Round 5 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 3 | UZB | 2266 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | 0 - 1 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | GEO | 2240 | 12 | ||
2 | 4 | MGL | 2237 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | ½ - ½ | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | VIE | 2259 | 2 | ||
3 | 5 | IND | 1909 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | 0 - 1 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2227 | 1 | ||
4 | 6 | VIE | 2270 | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | ½ - ½ | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2114 | 11 | ||
5 | 7 | IND | 2020 | WFM | Harshini A | 1 - 0 | WGM | Babiy Olga | UKR | 2249 | 10 | ||
6 | 8 | IND | 2285 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | 1 - 0 | Priyanka K | IND | 2067 | 9 | |||
Round 6 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 12 | GEO | 2240 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | 1 - 0 | Priyanka K | IND | 2067 | 9 | |||
2 | 10 | UKR | 2249 | WGM | Babiy Olga | 1 - 0 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2285 | 8 | ||
3 | 11 | IND | 2114 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | 1 - 0 | WFM | Harshini A | IND | 2020 | 7 | ||
4 | 1 | IND | 2227 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | ½ - ½ | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | VIE | 2270 | 6 | ||
5 | 2 | VIE | 2259 | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | 1 - 0 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | IND | 1909 | 5 | ||
6 | 3 | UZB | 2266 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | 1 - 0 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | MGL | 2237 | 4 | ||
Round 7 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 4 | MGL | 2237 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | 1 - 0 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | GEO | 2240 | 12 | ||
2 | 5 | IND | 1909 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | 0 - 1 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | UZB | 2266 | 3 | ||
3 | 6 | VIE | 2270 | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | ½ - ½ | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | VIE | 2259 | 2 | ||
4 | 7 | IND | 2020 | WFM | Harshini A | ½ - ½ | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2227 | 1 | ||
5 | 8 | IND | 2285 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | 0 - 1 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2114 | 11 | ||
6 | 9 | IND | 2067 | Priyanka K | ½ - ½ | WGM | Babiy Olga | UKR | 2249 | 10 | |||
Round 8 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 12 | GEO | 2240 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | 1 - 0 | WGM | Babiy Olga | UKR | 2249 | 10 | ||
2 | 11 | IND | 2114 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | 0 - 1 | Priyanka K | IND | 2067 | 9 | |||
3 | 1 | IND | 2227 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | 1 - 0 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2285 | 8 | ||
4 | 2 | VIE | 2259 | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | 1 - 0 | WFM | Harshini A | IND | 2020 | 7 | ||
5 | 3 | UZB | 2266 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | 0 - 1 | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | VIE | 2270 | 6 | ||
6 | 4 | MGL | 2237 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | 1 - 0 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | IND | 1909 | 5 | ||
Round 9 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 5 | IND | 1909 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | ½ - ½ | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | GEO | 2240 | 12 | ||
2 | 6 | VIE | 2270 | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | ½ - ½ | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | MGL | 2237 | 4 | ||
3 | 7 | IND | 2020 | WFM | Harshini A | ½ - ½ | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | UZB | 2266 | 3 | ||
4 | 8 | IND | 2285 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | 1 - 0 | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | VIE | 2259 | 2 | ||
5 | 9 | IND | 2067 | Priyanka K | ½ - ½ | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2227 | 1 | |||
6 | 10 | UKR | 2249 | WGM | Babiy Olga | ½ - ½ | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2114 | 11 | ||
Round 10 | |||||||||||||
Bo. | No. | FED | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 12 | GEO | 2240 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | 0 - 1 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2114 | 11 | ||
2 | 1 | IND | 2227 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | ½ - ½ | WGM | Babiy Olga | UKR | 2249 | 10 | ||
3 | 2 | VIE | 2259 | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | 1 - 0 | Priyanka K | IND | 2067 | 9 | |||
4 | 3 | UZB | 2266 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | ½ - ½ | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2285 | 8 | ||
5 | 4 | MGL | 2237 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | 1 - 0 | WFM | Harshini A | IND | 2020 | 7 | ||
6 | 5 | IND | 1909 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | ½ - ½ | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | VIE | 2270 | 6 |
Standings after the penultimate round
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | K | rtg+/- | ||
1 | 1 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2227 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 30,25 | 4 | 0 | 0,0 | |
2 | 11 | WIM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2114 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 29,00 | 6 | 0 | 0,0 | |
3 | 2 | WIM | Loung Phuong Hanh | VIE | 2259 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 30,00 | 5 | 0 | 0,0 | |
4 | 6 | WGM | Nguyel Thi Mai | VIE | 2270 | 6,0 | 0,5 | 28,00 | 3 | 0 | 0,0 | |
5 | 10 | WGM | Babiy Olga | UKR | 2249 | 6,0 | 0,5 | 26,75 | 4 | 0 | 0,0 | |
6 | 12 | WIM | Gavasheli Ana | GEO | 2240 | 5,0 | 1,0 | 23,75 | 4 | 0 | 0,0 | |
7 | 8 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2285 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 23,25 | 4 | 0 | 0,0 | |
8 | 9 | Priyanka K | IND | 2067 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 20,75 | 3 | 0 | 0,0 | ||
9 | 3 | WGM | Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz | UZB | 2266 | 4,0 | 1,0 | 16,25 | 3 | 0 | 0,0 | |
10 | 4 | WGM | Enththuul Altan Ulzii | MGL | 2237 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 16,25 | 3 | 0 | 0,0 | |
11 | 7 | WFM | Harshini A | IND | 2020 | 3,5 | 0,0 | 18,75 | 2 | 0 | 0,0 | |
12 | 5 | WFM | Tanishka Kotia | IND | 1909 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 8,00 | 0 | 0 | 0,0 |