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AICF Gujarat WGM: Aakanksha and Mrudul leads

by Satanick Mukhuty - 17/11/2019

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.

Mrudul has been quite explosive throughout the event so far, clinching as many as six wins! She would definitely be going for the blood in the final round with the white pieces | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

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 encounter began with the four knights variation of the English Opening and entered uncharted territory as early as move 10 when Ana pushed her a-pawn two squares.

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.

After 15.Bxb7 Rad8 suddenly Black's pieces looked very well coordinated.

Black was getting back her pawn after 17...Qe6!

Can you see the tactical point of going 22...Bc6 here? Of course, it puts the bishop on a better diagonal and opens the d-file for the rook but there's something more concrete to it.

The game followed 23.Nb5 Bxf3 24.Bxf3 Nd2 and this was the idea. Now Black was winning an exchange; either on f1 or, after Nb3, on a1!

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 drew four of her last six games but she scored one very enterprising win against the top-seed Pratyusha Bodda in the eighth round of the event | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

Aakanksha Hagawane - Pratyusha Bodda, Round 8

The above position came after the thirteenth move out of a Sicilian Moscow. Black needs to be careful here as his king is still stuck in the middle of the board. What do you think would be a good move for Black?

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.

When your pieces are not well-developed and your king is stuck in the middle, 14...g6 is simply asking for trouble.

The final nail in the coffin was hit with the move 18.Qb3! Black should have continued here with 18...Qxd2 but 18...Bxa3 only quickened matters. After 19.Bxf7+ Kf8 20.Bc3 Qf4 21.Bd5 Bd6 22.Bxb7 Rb8 23.Be4 White was decisively better. The game was finished off in a mere 37 moves. Check it out in full below.

In the same round eight, Priyanka K actually got the better of the in-form Mrudul Dehankar | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

Mrudul Dehankar - Priyanka K, Round 8

Mrudul started off ambitiously in this game as well, giving up a piece for three pawns and an attack. But unfortunately in the above position she blundered with the move 18.Nc7+

After 18...Qxc7 19.Qxh8, the black queen was just much faster than its white counterpart. The game followed 19...Qc5 20.Qg8 Qe3+ and White was suddenly lost. Funnily, White would have been fine if she went with the simple 18.Qxh8 Qe6 instead!

Photo Gallery

Tanishka Kotia is having a hard time in the event as she is trailing at the bottom of the table with just 1.5 points | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

Harshini A has 3.5/10 points but she pulled off a notable upset in round five against Olga Babiy who was the leader at the moment | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

Harshini A - Olga Babiy, Round 5

Can you see what Black missed when she went 18...Qc5? Check out the full game below.

Pratyusha Bodda started as the top seed but she is having a forgettable event and has just 5.0/10 points. However, her ninth round victory against Phuong Hanh Luong is worth mentioning | Photo: Bhavesh Patel

Results of rounds 5-10

Round 5
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
13UZB2266
WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz0 - 1WIMGavasheli Ana
GEO224012
24MGL2237
WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii½ - ½WIMLoung Phuong Hanh
VIE22592
35IND1909
WFMTanishka Kotia0 - 1WIMAakanksha Hagawane
IND22271
46VIE2270
WGMNguyel Thi Mai½ - ½WIMMrudul Dehankar
IND211411
57IND2020
WFMHarshini A1 - 0WGMBabiy Olga
UKR224910
68IND2285
WIMPratyusha Bodda1 - 0Priyanka K
IND20679
Round 6
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
112GEO2240
WIMGavasheli Ana1 - 0Priyanka K
IND20679
210UKR2249
WGMBabiy Olga1 - 0WIMPratyusha Bodda
IND22858
311IND2114
WIMMrudul Dehankar1 - 0WFMHarshini A
IND20207
41IND2227
WIMAakanksha Hagawane½ - ½WGMNguyel Thi Mai
VIE22706
52VIE2259
WIMLoung Phuong Hanh1 - 0WFMTanishka Kotia
IND19095
63UZB2266
WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz1 - 0WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii
MGL22374
Round 7
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
14MGL2237
WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii1 - 0WIMGavasheli Ana
GEO224012
25IND1909
WFMTanishka Kotia0 - 1WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz
UZB22663
36VIE2270
WGMNguyel Thi Mai½ - ½WIMLoung Phuong Hanh
VIE22592
47IND2020
WFMHarshini A½ - ½WIMAakanksha Hagawane
IND22271
58IND2285
WIMPratyusha Bodda0 - 1WIMMrudul Dehankar
IND211411
69IND2067
Priyanka K½ - ½WGMBabiy Olga
UKR224910
Round 8
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
112GEO2240
WIMGavasheli Ana1 - 0WGMBabiy Olga
UKR224910
211IND2114
WIMMrudul Dehankar0 - 1Priyanka K
IND20679
31IND2227
WIMAakanksha Hagawane1 - 0WIMPratyusha Bodda
IND22858
42VIE2259
WIMLoung Phuong Hanh1 - 0WFMHarshini A
IND20207
53UZB2266
WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz0 - 1WGMNguyel Thi Mai
VIE22706
64MGL2237
WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii1 - 0WFMTanishka Kotia
IND19095
Round 9
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
15IND1909
WFMTanishka Kotia½ - ½WIMGavasheli Ana
GEO224012
26VIE2270
WGMNguyel Thi Mai½ - ½WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii
MGL22374
37IND2020
WFMHarshini A½ - ½WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz
UZB22663
48IND2285
WIMPratyusha Bodda1 - 0WIMLoung Phuong Hanh
VIE22592
59IND2067
Priyanka K½ - ½WIMAakanksha Hagawane
IND22271
610UKR2249
WGMBabiy Olga½ - ½WIMMrudul Dehankar
IND211411
Round 10
Bo.No.FEDRtg NameResultName FEDRtgNo.
112GEO2240
WIMGavasheli Ana0 - 1WIMMrudul Dehankar
IND211411
21IND2227
WIMAakanksha Hagawane½ - ½WGMBabiy Olga
UKR224910
32VIE2259
WIMLoung Phuong Hanh1 - 0Priyanka K
IND20679
43UZB2266
WGMKurbonboeva Sarvinoz½ - ½WIMPratyusha Bodda
IND22858
54MGL2237
WGMEnththuul Altan Ulzii1 - 0WFMHarshini A
IND20207
65IND1909
WFMTanishka Kotia½ - ½WGMNguyel Thi Mai
VIE22706

Standings after the penultimate round

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgIPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 Krtg+/-
11
WIMAakanksha HagawaneIND22277,00,030,25400,0
211
WIMMrudul DehankarIND21147,00,029,00600,0
32
WIMLoung Phuong HanhVIE22596,50,030,00500,0
46
WGMNguyel Thi MaiVIE22706,00,528,00300,0
510
WGMBabiy OlgaUKR22496,00,526,75400,0
612
WIMGavasheli AnaGEO22405,01,023,75400,0
78
WIMPratyusha BoddaIND22855,00,023,25400,0
89
Priyanka KIND20674,50,020,75300,0
93
WGMKurbonboeva SarvinozUZB22664,01,016,25300,0
104
WGMEnththuul Altan UlziiMGL22374,00,016,25300,0
117
WFMHarshini AIND20203,50,018,75200,0
125
WFMTanishka KotiaIND19091,50,08,00000,0

Related news:
Mrudul Dehankar wins AICF Gujarat WGM

@ 20/11/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
Six Indians in the hunt for norms at AICF Gujarat WGM Tournament

@ 13/11/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)

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