Pratibha picks holes in Vijayalaxmi's invincibility

By Raghunandan Gokhale

KALYAN, JUNE 13. On a wonderful day for teenagers, Y. Pratibha shattered the myth of S. Vijayalaxmi's invincibility by handing her a shocking defeat in the seventh round of 26th National A women's chess championship being organised by Maharashtra Chess Association at Hotel Raja here on Tuesday.

Second-seeded IWM Swati Ghate (3.5) of LIC suffered her third consecutive loss when she was outplayed by World under- 18 girls champion R. Aarthie whose improvement over her own loss to Saheli proved to be too much for the IWM from Pune.

IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay scored an easy win over in- form Safira Shanaz. IWM Pallavi Shah improved her chances with a win over S. Sujatha.

When the 17-year-old Pratibha sat down to play Vijayalaxmi, she was well versed with Vijayalaxmi's play in the Spanish Opening. The game ran on the lines of Zaitsev variation, which is a pet line of former World champion Anatoly Karpov. GM Igor Zaitsev, Karpov's trainer had researched this line deeply.

Vijayalaxmi was not happy with her own decision to exchange pawns in the centre on 17th move. I should have played d5 straight away, repented the 21-year-old champion from Indian Airlines. Pratibha, who trained with National players R. Ravichandran and C. Natarajan for this Championship, agreed with Vijayalaxmi.

Pratibha had a lasting initiative by the twentieth move. Vijayalaxmi recalled, ``I made the matters worse by playing some passive moves. Pratibha now had a irresistible attack on the black king. But I won the piece on the queen side,'' the computer science student recollected with her trademark giggle. Pratibha then made no mistake in wrapping up the game.

Vijayalaxmi is worried more about her rating than the championship. She requires at least 10.5 points out of twelve games to safeguard her 2397 Elo points.

After Saheli outplayed her, Aarthie must have worked hard on that game. She produced an improvement on her 16th move against unsuspecting Swati Ghate. Saheli had an exchange sacrifice up her sleeves when she played Aarthie. This time the World under-18 champion was dazzlingly fast with her king side offensive.

Aarthie ripped open the white castle with her 23.Nf2. Swati, weakened with the bout of viral flu, was unable to stop the waves of attack from the black army. She went down in 40 moves.

Bhagyashree's blitzkrieg

In form Safira Shanaz (3.5) went down fighting to IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay (3.5), who launched a whirlwind on the black king. Safira handicapped with time shortage failed to defend properly and had to surrender the game.

It was a typical Sicilian Kann defence. Safira confidently went for a sharp variation by playing an early b5. Bhagyashree organised an attack on the black king and broke through with 29.e5. Safira lost many pieces during the raid and called it a day on 34th move.

Vijayalaxmi's younger sibling Meenakshi survived many anxious moments during her six and half hour battle with Neha Singh. The girl from Bihar played inspiring chess and had a control over the game right from the word go.

In a closed Italian game, Meenakshi imprudently accepted three pawns on the c file and they proved to be the source of her difficulties. However, Meenakshi managed to maintain her unbeaten

record by keeping Neha's knights at bay throughout the game which was the last game to finish.

Pallavi posts easy win

Pallavi is one of the few players who like to take on Sicilian defence. Sujatha, who had suffered a quick defeat to another Sicilian slayer - Bhagyashree - few days ago, challenged Pallavi in Sicilian Scavenengian defence. Pallavi recorded an easy win on 32nd move after digesting Sujatha's exchange sacrifice.

Experienced IWM Anupama Gokhale (4) of BPCL and Saheli Barua (4) of IR agreed for a quick draw in just 6 moves of Dutch defence.

Wednesday will be the rest day.

The results: Anupama Gokhale (BPCL) 4 drew with Saheli Barua (IR) 4; Neha Singh (Bih) 1.5 drew with S. Meenakshi (TN) 4 Swati Ghate (LIC) 3.5 lost to R. Aarthie (WIPRO) 2.5; Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI) 3.5 beat Safira Shanaz (TN) 3.5; Pratibha Y. (TN) 3 beat; S. Vijayalaxmi (IA) 5.5; Pallavi Shah (LIC) 3.5 beat S. Sujatha (TN) 3.5; Baisakhi Das (WB) 0 Bye.

The moves: Y. Pratibha vs S. Vijayalaxmi: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Ng5 Rf8 12. Nf3 h6 13.Nbd2 Re8 14. Nf1 Bf8 15.Ng3 Na5 16. Bc2 c5 17. a4 cxd4 18. cxd4 Nc6 19. b3 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. axb5 axb5 22. Rxa8 Qxa8 23. Qxd4 Qc8 24. Bd3 Qc6 25. Bb2 Re5 26. b4 Re6 27. Rc1 Qd7 28. f3 Nh7 29. Nf5 Rg6 30. h4 d5 31. e5 Ra6 32. Nd6 Bc6 33. Bf5 Qe7 34. Bc8 Ra2 35. Rxc6 Nf6 36. Ra6 Rxa6 37. Bxa6 Ne8 38. Nxe8 Qxe8 39. Qxd5 Bxb4 40. Bxb5 Qe7 41. Bc4 Qc5+ 42. Qxc5 Bxc5+ 43. Kf1 g6 44. Ke2 Kf8 45.f4 Bb4 46. Bd4 Ke7 47. g4 Kf8 48. f5 h5 49. gxh5 gxf5 50. Bd3 Be7 51. Bxf5 Kg7 52. Be3 Bxh4 53. h6+ Kh8 54. e6 Kg8 55. h7+ Vijayalaxmi resigned.

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