National Women's 2019 R08: Bhakti's...Kxd7?! Wow! What sort of a move is that?

by Satanick Mukhuty - 25/07/2019

Bhakti Kulkarni continues to steal the show at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In round 8, victory came once again, this time against Nandhidhaa P V and that too playing the black side of the super weird Scandinavian opening. With the current state of things one might as well say that the Bhakti effect is taking over the tournament. However, possibilities still abound as just half a point behind breathing down Bhakti's neck is Vantika Agrawal. Meenakshi Subbaraman too has climbed up the leaderboard with formidable performances in the last two rounds and has every chance at putting a stop to Bhakti's dream run. With only three rounds remaining, the contest is still excitingly open to many!

Bhakti's masterclass in Scandinavian!

Bhakti Kulkarni surprised her opponent Nandhidhaa P V with 1.e4 d5 to register yet another victory on the eighth round of the event | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

In round 8 of the 46th National Women's Championship 2019 Bhakti Kulkarni was up against Nandhidhaa P V on the top board. The latter had the White pieces and started off with 1.e4 to which Bhakti replied by pushing her queen's pawn two squares! In today's age of engine based opening preparation, the Scandinavian defense has been conclusively declared as unsound for first class tournament play. Yet this obscure line keeps making fashionable comebacks even in the most elite circles. Only earlier this month it made a notable appearance in the second leg of 2019 Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb, Croatia when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov played it against Fabiano Caruana in their tenth round encounter of the event. While certainly not the best weapon for regular use, its surprise element does make it one of the ideal choices for occasional ventures.

Nandhidhaa P V - Bhakti Kulkarni, Round 8

Position after 9...e6: Black has already spent a couple of tempi with the queen and it is in this position that things turn interesting.

10.Nxd7 was played here, now how do you recapture the knight on d7? 10...Qxd7 is certainly the first thing you would think of but this wastes another tempo with the queen and allows White to play an early 11.d5. Note, exd5 isn't possible because of the pin along e-file and 11...cxd5 too is out of question because then White has the nasty 12.Bb5! Thus, in this case, Black has to yield to an early liquidation in the center with something like 11...0-0-0 12.dxe6 Bxe6 etc. Bhakti surely didn't want this. After all, a surprise in the opening becomes meaningless if you simplify things that quickly. 10...Nxd7 also runs into similar problem with d5. Therefore, the move she played was 10...Kxd7!? adding to the surprise!

10...Kxd7, wow! What sort of a move is that?! Looks completely original, but this move has been already played in 19 games before. It prepares to castle artificially with Rd8 followed by Kc8 and also puts the king out of the e-file so that now 11.d5 isn't possible anymore.

The game followed 11.0-0-0 Rd8 12.Bg5 Kc8 and Black was able to keep the tension in the position. Next step was to develop the f8 bishop and double up the rooks on the d-file.

Position after 15...Rhd8: Now it is Black who has all the say in the center.

Position after 19...c5: Time to make a breakthrough!

It was Black who now made the choice to simplify in the center. After a few exchanges with 20.g5 Nd5 21.Bxd5 exd5 22.dxc5 d4 23.Ne4 Bxc5 24.Bg3 Qc6 25.Nxc5 Qxc5 lines opened up and Black's position started to look good.

Position after 25...Qxc5: The c2 pawn starts looking vulnerable and Black's d-pawn firmly supported by the rooks keeps White's counterplay in check.

28.Bf4 It was here that White made the first "serious" mistake of the game. Can you find a way for Black to capitalize on it?

In the game Bhakti went 28...Qf5 and after 29.Qd2 Rc8 there was just too much pressure on the c2 pawn.

Position after 29...Rc8: Black systematically piles up the pressure on c2 and at an opportune time hopes to get d3 in.

At this point White was already worse and it would have been best to just continue with 30.h4 but Nandhidhaa instead played 30.Rg2 which only quickened the fate of the game. Black simply took 30...Qxh3 and after 31.Rf2 Qf5 32.Bh2 Qd5 33.Re2 Bxc2 even the c2 pawn was picked.

Position after 33...Bxc2: White can't recapture as after 34.Rxc2 Rxc2 35.Qxc2 comes 35...d3 fork!

34.Re5 was played but now came 34...Qxf3 exploiting White's back-rank issues, 35.Rxc2 was still out of question because of 35...Qf1+ - thus, Black had three clear extra pawns. Unsurprisingly resignation came after only five more moves!

With her Scandinavian victory Bhakti continues to remain in the sole lead with an impressive score of 7.5/8 | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

With only three more rounds remaining it will be exciting to see if Bhakti can maintain her impressive run and win the event. Only half a point behind is Vantika Agrawal who too has managed to stay unbeaten so far in the tournament. In round 8 she actually found an easy victory against Michelle Catherina to stay at Bhakti's heels. Let's check out what happened in this game.

Vantika Agrawal - Michelle Catherina, Round 8

Position after 18.Bxe4

The above position was reached out of a closed Catalan. White does seem to have an edge here with the pair of bishops but things are far from being conclusive. 18...b4 19.axb4 Bxb4 is a fine continuation here that leaves about even chances but Black miscalculated a tactic here and went 18...Bxf2+

After 19.Kxf2 the fork 19...Nc5 does look promising ... Can you see what Black missed in this position?

After 19.Kxf2 Nc5 the move 20.Rxd8 leaves equal chances as after 20...Nxb3 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 Black regains material, while something like 20.Qc2 simply loses to 20...Nxe4+. But what Michelle missed here was 20.Bxh7+!

20.Bxh7+! is the only way for White to take the initiative and this is what Black overlooked!

20...Kxh7 now comes with 21.Qc2+ after which White just picks up the queen, so Black played 20...Kh8 here and this was replied by 21.Qf3!

All tactics work in White's favour. Black can't go 21...Qxd1 as 22.Qh5 next comes with the threat of mate and all sorts of deadly discoveries.

The game followed 21...Qb6 22.Be3 Kxh7 23.b4 axb4 24.axb4 and in the following position Black resigned.

Black is simply losing the knight on c5 after 24.axb4 and ending up a piece down.

Is Chess 99% tactics? ... Well, after this game Michelle Catherina will agree!

Earlier in round-5 Vantika had miraculously saved a lost game against Bhakti. She is making the most out of her opportunities and is all set to take the lead if Bhakti slips. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Mrudul Dehankar continues to make one upset after another as she clinched another victory against higher rated Srija Seshadri | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Meenakshi Subbaraman has won her last two rounds games. In round 8 she beat Pratyusha Bodda. In the next round she is up against Bhakti, what do you think would be the result of this game? | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Priyanka K has climbed up the leaderboard beating Potluri Saye Srreezza in the last round | IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Divya Deshmukh won her eighth round game against Nityata Jain, the 13-year-old is now on 6.0/8 along with Soumya Swaminathan, Priyanka K, and Mrudul Dehankar | IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Results of round 8

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	2259	TN	5½	0 - 1	6½	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2388	AI	2
2	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2243	DEL	6	1 - 0	5½	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2226	TN	12
3	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2163	AI	5½	1 - 0	5½	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	2265	AP	8
4	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2402	PSPB	5	1 - 0	5	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2054	LIC	26
5	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2373	MAH	5	1 - 0	5	WFM	Jain Nityata	2135	MP	20
6	5	WIM	Srija Seshadri	2306	TN	5	0 - 1	5	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	2074	MAH	24
7	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	2093	MAH	5	½ - ½	5	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2303	PSPB	6
8	30		Potluri Saye Srreezza	1999	TEL	5	0 - 1	5		Priyanka K	2217	TN	14
9	15	WGM	Swati Ghate	2192	LIC	5	½ - ½	5	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	2078	AP	23
10	17	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2168	MAH	4½	1 - 0	5		Bala Kannamma P	2051	TN	27
11	7	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	AP	4½	½ - ½	4½	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	2020	AI	28
12	13	IM	Mohota Nisha	2221	PSPB	4½	½ - ½	4½		Bakshi Rutuja	1958	MAH	33
13	34	WFM	Sanskriti Goyal	1948	UP	4½	½ - ½	4½	WCM	Sharma Isha	2188	KAR	16
14	52		Abhirami Madabushi	1689	TEL	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Varshini V	2087	TN	22
15	44		Singh Neha	1809	BIH	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	2357	AI	4
16	11	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2227	RSPB	4	- - +	4		Sunyasakta Satpathy	1801	ODI	45
17	19	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2145	MAH	4	1 - 0	4	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	1873	AP	41
18	46		Smaraki Mohanty	1773	ODI	4	0 - 1	4	WFM	Saranya J	2067	TN	25
19	50		Divyabharathi Masanam	1730	TN	4	0 - 1	4		Meenal Gupta	2004	J&K	29
20	56	WCM	Chinnam Vyshnavi	1664	AP	4	½ - ½	4		Saranya Y	1959	TN	32

Standings after round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we
1	2	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2388	AI	7,5	0,0	40,0	43,5	40,00	7	1,59
2	10	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2243	DEL	7,0	0,0	39,0	42,5	36,00	6	2,33
3	18	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2163	AI	6,5	0,0	36,0	38,5	30,50	5	1,70
4	3	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2373	MAH	6,0	0,0	39,0	42,5	29,25	5	-0,46
5	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	PSPB	6,0	0,0	38,0	41,5	28,25	5	-0,58
6	14		Priyanka K	IND	2217	TN	6,0	0,0	32,5	36,0	26,50	5	-0,88
7	24	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	IND	2074	MAH	6,0	0,0	32,5	36,0	25,75	5	1,59
8	9	WIM	Nandhidhaa P V	IND	2259	TN	5,5	0,0	39,5	42,5	25,25	5	-0,10
9	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	IND	2226	TN	5,5	0,0	38,0	42,0	27,25	4	-0,39
10	8	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2265	AP	5,5	0,0	36,5	40,0	25,00	5	-0,81
11	21	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2093	MAH	5,5	0,0	35,5	38,5	22,75	5	0,40
12	23	WIM	Harshita Guddanti	IND	2078	AP	5,5	0,0	34,5	37,5	24,25	4	1,36
13	6	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2303	PSPB	5,5	0,0	33,0	36,5	24,00	4	-1,23
14	15	WGM	Swati Ghate	IND	2192	LIC	5,5	0,0	33,0	35,0	21,75	5	-0,91
15	22	WIM	Varshini V	IND	2087	TN	5,5	0,0	32,5	36,0	23,25	4	-0,69
16	17	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	IND	2168	MAH	5,5	0,0	29,5	33,0	22,75	5	-1,57
17	4	IM	Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman	IND	2357	AI	5,0	0,0	36,5	40,5	23,75	4	-1,96
18	30		Potluri Saye Srreezza	IND	1999	TEL	5,0	0,0	36,5	39,0	20,00	5	0,97
19	28	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2020	AI	5,0	0,0	36,0	40,0	24,25	3	1,87
20	5	WIM	Srija Seshadri	IND	2306	TN	5,0	0,0	35,5	39,0	22,50	4	-1,74

The ninth round of the event begins at 10 a.m IST today. Follow live.

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