National Women's 2019 R05+06: Lady luck smiles on Vantika, Bhakti beats Divya
It was a double rounds day at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In the fifth round the top board saw a surprising escape when Bhakti Kulkarni blundered in a winning position and Vantika Agrawal salvaged a draw through perpetual. Divya Deshmukh won a nice tactical game in the same round playing the black pieces of a Sicilian against Varshini. The final round of the day saw more fire works as both Bhakti and Vantika crashed through winning against Divya and IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman respectively. After six rounds of the event Bhakti and Vantika share the lead with 5.5/6 points; while Soumya Swaminathan, Nandhidhaa P V, Michelle Catherina P, Pratyusha Bodda and Swati Ghate follow close behind with 5.0/6. Watch out for Swati, after the first round loss, she has scored 5.0/5!
Round 5: Divya Dazzles, Bhakti misses a win narrowly!
In round 5 of the 46th National Women's Chess Championship 2019 WIM Divya Deshmukh from Maharashtra was up against WIM Varshini V of Tamil Nadu. Divya had the black pieces and she opted for the Sicilian against Varshini's 1.e4. The latter went for the closed variation and on move 15 made a dubious pawn push in the center which allowed Black to tactically seize a dangerous initiative. Let us begin by looking at what happened in this game.
Varshini V - Divya Deshmukh, Round 5
With 15.f5 comes 15...Bxc4 16.Qxc4 Ng4 after which Qh4 is a strong threat, in the game 15.d5 was played which also incurred similar repercussions, Black went 15...Ng4 immediately and after 16.Bxb6 Qxb6+ 17.Kh1 Bd7 all sorts of deadly tactics were lurking in the air. Take note, White simply couldn't take 16.dxe6 here because of 16...Bxe3+ after which, once again, comes the crushing Qh4!
Understandably, 18.Nd1 was played, White had to cover the f2 square. Next with 18...exf4 19.Rxf4 Black had some nice tactics to punish White with!
The best move in the position is 19...g5, White's best option after this is really to give up the exchange with 20.Rxg4, check annotations below to know why. In the game however, Divya went for the less forcing 19...Ne5 but this was also good enough for her. After 20.Qf1 Qd4 21.Be2 Ng6 22.Rf3 Qxe4 she picked up a pawn and went on to win pretty comfortably.
Bhakti had the White pieces and the following position was reached out of an orthodox King's Indian opening. Black had the bishop pair against White's knights but the closed nature of the position meant that White had the upper hand.
Bhakti Kulkarni - Vantika Agrawal, Round 5
The computer gives 47...Qe8 to be the best move here, check the annotations below for a nice equalizing line suggested by the engine. In the game however what Black did was far from ideal, it was 47...g5 that was played and this put the h4 bishop completely out of play.
Five moves later something drastic happened! 48.Qd1 Qg6 49.Qf3 Bd7 50.Nf1 Be1 51.Nfg3 Bxg3 was played and now White had to recapture on g3 but how?
Obviously, 52.Qxg3 isn't possible as the knight on e4 is hanging. The only two options are therefore 52.Nxg3 and 52.Kxg3. The latter leads to a comfortable win for White. A general plan, for example, would be getting the queens exchanged and then taking the king over to the queenside and pushing a4, a5 etc. But in the game Bhakti played 52.Nxg3? and this was a serious error that cost her half a point. Vantika played 52...Qc2+ at once, alas! now White couldn't escape the perpetual anymore, 53. Kh3 Qh7+ 54. Kg2 Qc2+ 55. Kg1 Qc1+ followed. There is no use in blocking these checks, for instance 56.Qf1 leads to 56...Qxe3+ and 56.Nf1 to 56...Qxc4 where Black is winning. Thus, repetition was forced and the game ended in draw!
Srija had the Black pieces, out of a Ruy Lopez opening already by move 16 she made advances towards Kiran's kingside. The latter had to pay the price for not taking the implications seriously.
Kiran Manisha Mohanty - Srija Seshadri, Round 5
White went 17.Nd5 in the above position and this was simply careless. After 17...Bd6 18.Bg5 Nxg2 19.Kxg2 Qg6 Black simply broke through and the game was resigned in just 27 moves.
Results of round 5
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
1 | 2 | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | 2388 | AI | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | 2243 | DEL | 10 |
2 | 24 | WCM | Mrudul Dehankar | 2074 | MAH | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2402 | PSPB | 1 |
3 | 28 | WGM | Ramaswamy Aarthie | 2020 | AI | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | IM | Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman | 2357 | AI | 4 |
4 | 22 | WIM | Varshini V | 2087 | TN | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | 2373 | MAH | 3 |
5 | 26 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | 2054 | LIC | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WIM | Srija Seshadri | 2306 | TN | 5 |
6 | 27 | Bala Kannamma P | 2051 | TN | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | 2293 | AP | 7 | |
7 | 8 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | 2265 | AP | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Potluri Saye Srreezza | 1999 | TEL | 30 | |
8 | 32 | Saranya Y | 1959 | TN | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WIM | Nandhidhaa P V | 2259 | TN | 9 | |
9 | 12 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | 2226 | TN | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WFM | Meghna C H | 1903 | RSPB | 38 |
10 | 29 | Meenal Gupta | 2004 | J&K | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | IM | Mohota Nisha | 2221 | PSPB | 13 | |
11 | 45 | Sunyasakta Satpathy | 1801 | ODI | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WGM | Swati Ghate | 2192 | LIC | 15 | |
12 | 16 | WCM | Sharma Isha | 2188 | KAR | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Nandhini Saripalli | 1933 | GOA | 36 | |
13 | 18 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | 2163 | AI | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Pandey Srishti | 1882 | MAH | 40 | |
14 | 20 | WFM | Jain Nityata | 2135 | MP | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Rindhiya V | 1573 | TN | 66 | |
15 | 43 | Sunyuktha C M N | 1815 | TN | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WIM | Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe | 2093 | MAH | 21 | |
16 | 35 | WCM | Jyothsna L | 1939 | TN | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | 2227 | RSPB | 11 |
17 | 14 | Priyanka K | 2217 | TN | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | Abhirami Madabushi | 1689 | TEL | 52 | ||
18 | 23 | WIM | Harshita Guddanti | 2078 | AP | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | Shetye Siddhali | 1837 | MAH | 42 | |
19 | 33 | Bakshi Rutuja | 1958 | MAH | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | Thamaraiselvi P | 1752 | TN | 48 | ||
20 | 37 | Toshali V | 1920 | AP | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | WFM | Sanskriti Goyal | 1948 | UP | 34 |
Standings after round 5
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | w-we | |
1 | 10 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | IND | 2243 | DEL | 4,5 | 0,5 | 15,0 | 17,0 | 14,75 | 4 | 1,82 |
2 | 2 | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | IND | 2388 | AI | 4,5 | 0,5 | 14,5 | 16,0 | 13,75 | 4 | 0,74 |
3 | 1 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | IND | 2402 | PSPB | 4,0 | 0,0 | 14,5 | 16,5 | 12,75 | 3 | -0,17 |
4 | 4 | IM | Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman | IND | 2357 | AI | 4,0 | 0,0 | 14,0 | 16,0 | 12,50 | 3 | -1,14 |
5 | 9 | WIM | Nandhidhaa P V | IND | 2259 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,5 | 16,0 | 11,50 | 4 | 0,28 |
6 | 28 | WGM | Ramaswamy Aarthie | IND | 2020 | AI | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,5 | 15,5 | 11,50 | 3 | 1,28 |
7 | 21 | WIM | Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe | IND | 2093 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,5 | 15,5 | 11,00 | 4 | 0,05 |
8 | 12 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | IND | 2226 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,0 | 15,0 | 11,50 | 3 | 0,04 |
18 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | IND | 2163 | AI | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,0 | 15,0 | 11,50 | 3 | 0,52 | |
10 | 3 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 2373 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 13,0 | 14,5 | 11,00 | 3 | -0,80 |
11 | 20 | WFM | Jain Nityata | IND | 2135 | MP | 4,0 | 0,0 | 12,5 | 14,5 | 10,50 | 4 | -0,11 |
12 | 24 | WCM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2074 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 12,0 | 14,5 | 11,25 | 3 | 0,72 |
13 | 5 | WIM | Srija Seshadri | IND | 2306 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 11,0 | 13,0 | 10,00 | 4 | -0,66 |
8 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2265 | AP | 4,0 | 0,0 | 11,0 | 13,0 | 10,00 | 4 | -0,14 | |
15 | 15 | WGM | Swati Ghate | IND | 2192 | LIC | 4,0 | 0,0 | 11,0 | 12,5 | 10,00 | 4 | -0,21 |
16 | 16 | WCM | Sharma Isha | IND | 2188 | KAR | 4,0 | 0,0 | 10,5 | 12,5 | 9,50 | 4 | -0,70 |
17 | 23 | WIM | Harshita Guddanti | IND | 2078 | AP | 3,5 | 0,0 | 14,0 | 16,5 | 10,50 | 3 | 0,91 |
18 | 27 | Bala Kannamma P | IND | 2051 | TN | 3,5 | 0,0 | 13,5 | 15,5 | 9,25 | 3 | 0,59 | |
19 | 13 | IM | Mohota Nisha | IND | 2221 | PSPB | 3,5 | 0,0 | 12,5 | 14,5 | 9,75 | 2 | -0,87 |
20 | 14 | Priyanka K | IND | 2217 | TN | 3,5 | 0,0 | 12,0 | 14,5 | 9,25 | 3 | -1,24 |
Round 6: Bhakti and Vantika crashes through!
Divya Deshmukh couldn't hold her own against Bhakti Kulkarni in the sixth round of the event. With the White pieces Divya adopted the Trompowsky attack and the following position was reached on move 12.
Divya Deshmukh - Bhakti Kulkarni, Round 6
It turns out that Black gets an edge after 12.Qf4 ... In the game a series of exchanges followed 12...Nxd4 13. exd6 Nxf3+ 14. gxf3 cxd6 15. Qxd6 Qe8 and in the resulting position Black had the bishop pair and White's king was still stuck in the middle of the board. It couldn't castle on the kingside, while the queenside too wasn't particularly safe with the g7 bishop breathing down the long diagonal. Suddenly White's position was difficult to play.
At this point Divya crumbled all the more under pressure and played 26.Bd3 which allowed 26...Qxf3. Next, after 27.Re1 came the final blow of the game!
Yes, Bhakti played 27...Rxd3!, after 28.cxd3 Qxd3+ 29.Kc1 Bxe4 it was game over and White resigned just after two moves.
It was Vantika's day today as she miraculously saved her fifth round game against Bhakti and in sixth round defeated IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Thus, after six rounds of the event she still remains on the top along with Bhakti with an impressive 5.5/6. Against Vijayalakshmi she played a Catalan and got a strong central pawn majority. Let's have a look at how she capitalized on it.
Vantika Agrawal - Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman, Round 6
In the above Black went 24...Bxf2+ and 25.Kxf2 fxe5 followed and now White played 26.Rxb5!
The game continued 26...Qf7+ 27. Ke1 and only now 27...Rxb5 was played but White had a different tactic in store in this case.
Vantika crashed through with 28.Qc8+ Qf8 29. Qxe6+ Kh8 30.exd5 and now her pair bishop in the open board was simply too much to handle. After only seven more moves Black had to call it a day!
Results of round 6
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||
1 | 3 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | 2373 | MAH | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4½ | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | 2388 | AI | 2 |
2 | 10 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | 2243 | DEL | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4 | IM | Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman | 2357 | AI | 4 |
3 | 1 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2402 | PSPB | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WCM | Sharma Isha | 2188 | KAR | 16 |
4 | 5 | WIM | Srija Seshadri | 2306 | TN | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | 2163 | AI | 18 |
5 | 20 | WFM | Jain Nityata | 2135 | MP | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | 2265 | AP | 8 |
6 | 9 | WIM | Nandhidhaa P V | 2259 | TN | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WCM | Mrudul Dehankar | 2074 | MAH | 24 |
7 | 21 | WIM | Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe | 2093 | MAH | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | 2226 | TN | 12 |
8 | 15 | WGM | Swati Ghate | 2192 | LIC | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WGM | Ramaswamy Aarthie | 2020 | AI | 28 |
9 | 7 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | 2293 | AP | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | Meenal Gupta | 2004 | J&K | 29 | |
10 | 13 | IM | Mohota Nisha | 2221 | PSPB | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | Bala Kannamma P | 2051 | TN | 27 | |
11 | 33 | Bakshi Rutuja | 1958 | MAH | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | Priyanka K | 2217 | TN | 14 | ||
12 | 34 | WFM | Sanskriti Goyal | 1948 | UP | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | WIM | Harshita Guddanti | 2078 | AP | 23 |
13 | 44 | Singh Neha | 1809 | BIH | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 2303 | PSPB | 6 | |
14 | 11 | WIM | Mahalakshmi M | 2227 | RSPB | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WFM | Potluri Supreetha | 1873 | AP | 41 |
15 | 17 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | 2168 | MAH | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | Sunyuktha C M N | 1815 | TN | 43 | |
16 | 19 | WIM | Parnali S Dharia | 2145 | MAH | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Sheena E. | 1763 | KER | 47 | |
17 | 40 | Pandey Srishti | 1882 | MAH | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WIM | Varshini V | 2087 | TN | 22 | |
18 | 25 | WFM | Saranya J | 2067 | TN | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Boramanikar Tanisha S | 1720 | MAH | 51 | |
19 | 58 | Shriya R Revankar | 1627 | KAR | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | 2054 | LIC | 26 | |
20 | 30 | Potluri Saye Srreezza | 1999 | TEL | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | Sunyasakta Satpathy | 1801 | ODI | 45 |
Standings after round 6
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | w-we | |
1 | 10 | WIM | Vantika Agrawal | IND | 2243 | DEL | 5,5 | 0,5 | 22,5 | 24,5 | 21,75 | 5 | 1,82 |
2 | 2 | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | IND | 2388 | AI | 5,5 | 0,5 | 21,5 | 23,5 | 20,75 | 5 | 0,74 |
3 | 1 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | IND | 2402 | PSPB | 5,0 | 0,0 | 20,5 | 23,0 | 18,75 | 4 | -0,17 |
4 | 9 | WIM | Nandhidhaa P V | IND | 2259 | TN | 5,0 | 0,0 | 20,0 | 22,5 | 17,00 | 5 | 0,28 |
5 | 12 | WIM | Michelle Catherina P | IND | 2226 | TN | 5,0 | 0,0 | 18,5 | 21,5 | 18,00 | 4 | 0,04 |
6 | 8 | WIM | Pratyusha Bodda | IND | 2265 | AP | 5,0 | 0,0 | 16,5 | 18,5 | 15,50 | 5 | -0,14 |
7 | 15 | WGM | Swati Ghate | IND | 2192 | LIC | 5,0 | 0,0 | 16,5 | 18,5 | 15,00 | 5 | -0,21 |
8 | 23 | WIM | Harshita Guddanti | IND | 2078 | AP | 4,5 | 0,0 | 18,5 | 21,5 | 15,00 | 4 | 0,91 |
9 | 18 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | IND | 2163 | AI | 4,5 | 0,0 | 18,0 | 20,5 | 14,75 | 3 | 0,52 |
10 | 5 | WIM | Srija Seshadri | IND | 2306 | TN | 4,5 | 0,0 | 18,0 | 20,0 | 14,75 | 4 | -0,66 |
11 | 7 | WIM | Priyanka Nutakki | IND | 2293 | AP | 4,5 | 0,0 | 16,0 | 17,5 | 12,50 | 4 | -0,90 |
12 | 4 | IM | Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman | IND | 2357 | AI | 4,0 | 0,0 | 21,5 | 24,5 | 15,00 | 3 | -1,14 |
13 | 28 | WGM | Ramaswamy Aarthie | IND | 2020 | AI | 4,0 | 0,0 | 21,0 | 24,0 | 14,50 | 3 | 1,28 |
14 | 3 | WIM | Divya Deshmukh | IND | 2373 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 21,0 | 23,0 | 13,25 | 3 | -0,80 |
15 | 20 | WFM | Jain Nityata | IND | 2135 | MP | 4,0 | 0,0 | 20,5 | 23,5 | 13,50 | 4 | -0,11 |
16 | 27 | Bala Kannamma P | IND | 2051 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 20,5 | 22,5 | 12,75 | 3 | 0,59 | |
17 | 32 | Saranya Y | IND | 1959 | TN | 4,0 | 0,0 | 20,0 | 22,5 | 13,50 | 3 | 1,11 | |
18 | 21 | WIM | Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe | IND | 2093 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 20,0 | 22,5 | 12,00 | 4 | 0,05 |
19 | 30 | Potluri Saye Srreezza | IND | 1999 | TEL | 4,0 | 0,0 | 20,0 | 21,5 | 11,00 | 4 | 0,29 | |
20 | 24 | WCM | Mrudul Dehankar | IND | 2074 | MAH | 4,0 | 0,0 | 19,5 | 22,0 | 13,25 | 3 | 0,72 |
The seventh round will take place on 23rd of July at 10 a.m. You can follow the games LIVE here.