Setback for Vijayalakshmi; Swati and Aarthie have their say

By Arvind Aaron

CHENNAI, SEPT. 9. International Woman Master Li Ruofan of China shocked top seed Woman Grandmaster Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman to take the lead at the end of the eighth round in the 9th India Cements Asian Women's chess championship here at Hotel Taj Connemara on Sunday.

Li Ruofan, 23, raised her playing level to score a well deserved 58-move top-board victory over the championship favourite. She now has 6.5 points.

Two Indians, Swati Ghate and Aarthie Ramaswamy, scored victories of contrasting nature to their styles to reach six points where they are tied for the second place. A step below, tied for the fourth place are Vijayalakshmi and Wang Yu of China, with 5.5 points.

Three rounds remain to be played in this 31-player tournament which has a total prize fund of $8,000.

According to the latest information released by Mr. D.V. Sundar, vice president, All India Chess Federation (AICF) today, ``six plus one'' players will qualify from this event to the world chess championship. It means six for sure and one if a zonal tournament does not take place elsewhere in Asia before November 24.

India versus China battles were on on at least four boards. The Chinese prevailed on two, drew one and lost the other, to our Swati Ghate. Overall, this round was one of the best for the Chinese who won on five boards and lost two. Five Indians won and four of them lost leaving one to be drawn and one bye. Yet, second defeats in the tournament for Vijayalakshmi, Nisha Mohota and Meenakshi left little to be desired.

Sensing white's slow development, Vijayalakshmi, who played black, looked aggressive through the king bishop's file. White blocked that manoeuvre and won by occupying the key f5 in the closed Ruy Lopez. White stifled black all through the four hours to post a methodical victory with immense pressure on the king knight file. Black who resigned on move-58 also had to part with the queen for a rook and minor piece while trying to contain white's onslaught.

The result is a major setback for Vijayalakshmi although she is in line for qualification and in addition has a series of white games to come.

Swati's fifth win

IWM Swati Ghate has made a mighty comeback. Her fifth victory in a row came with the white pieces in 36 moves when she was threatening to checkmate untitled Hoang Qian. Swati's aggressive pawn hurling with the white pieces was well countered by the Chinese who selected the rare Scandinavian defence to play as black.

Pushed reluctantly into defence, Swati noticed the vulnerability of the black king and pounced to breakthrough with a pawn sacrifice on move-28. The Pune girl won a knight on the 34th move and was home soon when she locked her queen and rook on the black king.

Aarthie Ramaswamy, the only undefeated player in the competition so far recorded a brilliant victory blending risk, tact and sound technique to hand Nisha Mohota her second successive defeat. Her fourth victory came with an unexpected bolt from the blue rook for bishop sacrifice on move-16. When she recovered the material, it was with a big bonus of having an actively played queen in a queen and rook ending. Nisha Mohota had chosen the Fianchetto variation with the white pieces against the king's Indian defence of the Chennai player. Winning a pawn on move-33 and reaching a queen ending, Aarthie also benefited from white's inept handling of the ending that led to a weak 36th move. Thereafter, Aarthie manoeuvred using geometric precision to win in 53 moves.

Strangely it was Aarthie's second victory in a row from a queen ending and for Nisha Mohota it was her second defeat from a queen ending.

Untitled Wang Yu of China scored a 43-move victory over WGM Mekhri Geldeyeva of Turkmenistan. Sergeeva Maria of Kazakhstan exhibited excellent fireworks around Anjela Khegay's king side before beating the Uzbek girl in 41 moves with the white pieces.

This round had several good quality games that chess lovers rarely get to see and this was one such an example.

Nguyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam sacrificed a rook and humbled Elena Levushkina of Uzbekistan in 38 moves by checkmating her in the middle of the board.

Meenakshi Subbaraman did not pay enough attention to white's pawn advances on the queen side and blundered two pieces for a rook to Yu Ting of China. In an obscure variation of the four knights defence, Meenakshi was checkmated on move-34 after having to defend a queen and rook ending against the much stronger queen and two bishops.

Zhao Xue of China made sure that at least one of the three woman Grandmasters in the championship won a game by sacrificing a rook for knight to defeat Iroda Khamrakulova of Uzbekistan in 42 moves.

Two time winner Anupama Gokhale had to take a draw after her passed pawns on the queen side fell in a queen versus two rooks ending that she played against Zhang Jilin of China. The Mumbai player took a perpetual check draw in 59 moves with the black pieces in the game which followed a Ruy Lopez opening.

On a day dominated by exchange sacrifices, 11-year-old Dronavalli Harika played one with the black pieces to defeat compatriot Y. Prathiba in 39 moves from a French defence opening. Harika played a mature high calibre game using her central passed pawns before rolling them to glory.

Those on four points are in a must win situation if they need to make it to the top seven, who will advance to the World championship.

lThe results (eighth round): Li Ruofan (Chn) 6.5 bt S. Vijayalakshmi (Ind) 5.5, Swati Ghate (Ind) 6 bt Huang Qian (Chn) 5, Nisha Mohota (Ind) 5 lost to Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 6, Mekhri Geldeyeva (Trk) 4 lost to Wang Yu (Chn) 5.5, Sergeeva Maria (Kaz) 5 bt Anjela Khegay (Uzb) 4, Elena Levushkina (Uzb) 4 lost to Nguyen Thi Thien An (Vie) 5, Yu Ting (Chn) 5 bt S. Meenakshi (Ind) 4, Iroda Khamrakulova (Uzb) 3.5 lost to Zhao Xue (Chn) 4.5, Zhang Jilin (Chn) 4 drew with Anupama Gokhale (Ind) 4, Le Kieu Thien Kim (Vie) 4 bt Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 3.5, Y. Prathiba (Ind) 3 lost to D. Harika (Ind) 4, Saheli Barua (Ind) 3.5 bt Anupama Konara (Sri) 2.5, Afroza Khanam Bably (Ban) 3 drew with Rani Hamid (Ban) 3, M. Kasturi (Ind) 3.5 bt Nazrana Khan (Ban) 2.5, Vineetha Wijesuriya (Sri) 2.5 lost to Zakia Sultana (Ban) 3.5, Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind) 3 - bye.

The moves: IWM Li Ruofan-WGM S. Vijayalakshmi (round eight), Ruy Lopez, C90: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 b5 9.Bb3 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Nbd2 Kh8 12.Nf1 Na5 13.Bc2 Ng8 14.Ng3 Bg6 15.d4 f6 16.Nh4 Bf7 17.Nhf5 g6 18.Nxe7 Qxe7 19.f4 c5 20.dxc5 dxc5 21.f5 g5 22.h4 h6 23.Rf1 gxh4 24.Nh1 h3 25.gxh3 Bc4 26.Rf2 Rf7 27.Kh2 Rd8 28.Qf3 Rh7 29.Ng3 b4 30.Be3 bxc3 31.bxc3 Nb7 32.Rg2 Bf7 33.a4 h5 34.Rag1 h4 35.Nf1 c4 36.Qf2 Bh5 37.Qxh4 Qf7 38.Qf2 Nd6 39.Nd2 Nh6 40.Nf3 Bxf3 41.Qxf3 Qb7 42.Rg6 Ng8 43.Qg2 Qf7 44.Bd1 Ne7 45.Be2 Rb8 46.Bc5 Ndc8 47.Rd1 Nc6 48.Rd7 N8e7 49.Rd6 Rb2 50.Rdxf6 Qe8 51.Rh6 Qg8 52.Qf2 Qg5 53.Be3 Qg7 54.Rxh7+ Kxh7 55.Rh6+ Qxh6 56.Bxh6 Kxh6 57.Kg3 Nc8 58.Qe3+ 0-1.

IWM Swati Ghate-Hoang Qian (round eight) Scandinavian defence, B01: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Bf5 7.g4 Be6 8.Bc4 Bd5 9.Bxd5 cxd5 10.g5 Nfd7 11.f4 e6 12.Qd3 a6 13.Be3 Nxe5 14.fxe5 Nc6 15.a3 Ne7 16.0-0 g6 17.Nd1 Nf5 18.Nf2 h5 19.gxh6 Bxh6 20.Bxh6 Rxh6 21.Ng4 Rh4 22.Nf6+ Ke7 23.c3 Rah8 24.Rf2 Qb5 25.Qd2 Rh3 26.Rd1 Kf8 27.Re1 R8h6 28.c4 dxc4 29.d5 Rd3 30.Qg5 Kg7 31.dxe6 fxe6 32.Ng4 Rh8 33.Qf6+ Kh7 34.Rxf5 Rd7 35.Rf3 Qb6+ 36.Ne3 Rc8 1-0.

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