Meenakshi inches closer to title

By Our Sports Reporter

KOZHIKODE, DEC. 29. With only a round left in the 15th Junior National girls' chess championship, S. Meenakshi of Indian Airlines, the top seed and odds on favourite, inched closer to the title. She maintained her sole lead with six points at the end of the seventh round, despite being held to a draw by J.E. Kavitha of Tamil Nadu at the V.K. Krishna Menon Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Third seed Manasi Dadarkar of Maharashtra, who drew with Nimmy A. George of Kerala, was on 5.5 points, but her chances to upset Meenakshi's New Year celebrations look pretty remote. Nimmy and two others, team-mate N. Sandhya, who beat Anuprita Patil of Maharashtra, M. Kasturi of Tamli Nadu, who defeated T.T. Lakshmipriyaa of Emanuel Chess Academy, Chennai, had five points each.

In the final round on Saturday, E. Lakshmi of Karnataka takes on Meenakshi on the top board, Manasi plays Kasturi on the second, and Nimmy meets Sandhya on the third.

Meenakshi, who played Catalan Opening, and Kavitha battled for 88 moves on the top board before agreeing to split the point. Meenakshi looked better after the opening and she had the advantage in space. On the 22nd move, after the exchange of her fianchettoe bishop, she lost the control of the `a1-h8' diagonal, as neither player managed to take decisive advantage at any stage in the game.

The queens were exchanged on the 25th move. Though Black created a passer on `b' on the 32nd move, after an exchange, Meenakshi was able to stop its march on the 47th move by bringing her rook. In the ending it was Meenakshi's rook and knight against Kavitha's rook and bishop with equal number of pawns.

Meenakshi said she was disappointed with the way she played today. ``This was certainly not my best game here, as I missed a few important moves,'' she said.

On the second board, Manasi, playing on the white side of a Sicilian Dragon found herself soon in trouble, being forced to give her knight on the 21st move. Desperately, White gave an exchange sacrifce for four pawns and offered and got the draw on the 34th move.

Sandhya continued with her impressive show with an easy win on the fourth board. She played King's Indian Attack against Anuprita's Sicilian Defence and won an exchange on the 22nd move before winning in 46 moves. On the third board, Kasturi adopted Pirc Defence and beat Lakshmipriyaa in 41 moves.

The second-seeded Tamil Nadu girl Y. Prathiba's miserable form continue as she was held to draw after 53 moves of French Defence by team-mate Ra. Mahima.

Fifth seed M.R. Sangeetha, another player in awful form, had to split the point with Lakshmi after 45 moves from a Bishop Opening.

The results (seventh round): S. Meenakshi (IA) 6 drew with J.E. Kavitha (TN) 4.5; Nimmy A. George (Ker) 5 drew with Manasi Dadarkar (Mah) 5.5; T.T. Lakhsmipriyaa (Emanuel Chess Academy, Chennai) 4 lost to M. Kasturi (TN) 5; N. Sandhya (Ker) 5 bt Anuprita Patil (Mah) 4; M.R. Sangeetha (TN) 4 drew with E. Lakshmi (Kar) 4.5; Pooja Rathod (MP) 4.5 bt H. Niranjana Devi (T. Nagar Chess Academy, Chennai) 3.5; Ra. Mahima (TN) 3.5 drew with Y. Prathiba (TN) 3.5; Navya J. Thykattil (Ker) 4 bt Ashwini Kulkarni (Mah) 3; Cija Augustus (Ker) 3 lost to Aswathy Balagopalan (Ker) 4; Thelma Gopal (Ker) 3.5 bt Sonia Balagopalan (Ker) 2.5; Nadia Nona (Ker) 2.5 lost to K. Prajeesha (Ker) 3.5; A. Deepa (Ker) 3.5 bt H. Praja Devi (TN) 2.5; Kashmira Neogi (Kar) 2.5 lost to Swati Sengupta (Ker) 3; Suravi Dutta (Ben) 2.5 drew with Nazia Nona (Ker) 2.5; Neenu A. George (Ker) 3 bt M. Karthika (Lak) 2; Pooja Rashivadekar (Kar) 2 bye.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Leaders keep lead
Next     : Triumph of a titan