Kavitha shocks Nisha Mohota

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

VISAKHAPATNAM, JULY 27. Seeded players had an easy time in the first round of the 28th National `B' chess championship for women which got underway at the YMCA here today.

Top seed Anupama Gokhale, second seed Saheli Dhar Barua and other top board players such as Bhagyasree Thipsay, Pallavi Shah and others won their matches against less fancied opponents. However in the second round played in the evening, there was a minor upset when J.E.Kavitha defeated Nisha Mohota the fourth seed.

IWM Shafira Shahnaz had to be content wih a draw against Niharika Thakkar after a battle which lasted for 45 moves. Shafira playing white opted for a queen pawn opening but her opponent defended with great determination and countered Shafira's moves resolutely to exract a draw.

The experienced Bhagyasree Thipsay came up against a hard fighting opponent in Kajri Choksi of Gujarat and the contest lasted 49 moves before Bhayasree notched up a win. Bhagyasree went in for a king pawn opening which was countered by Kajri who chose the Najdorf variation of the Sicillian defence. Both exhibited good skills before Bhagysree managed to gain the upper hand and record a win.

In the second round played in the evening it was the turn of Harika (who beat Vandana in the first round in the morning) to drop half a point as she was held to a draw by Sai Meera Ravi. After the 14th move boh repeated their moves thrice beofre agreeing to a draw .

The results

(first round- all winners got one point, losers nil and draw half point each): Anupama Gokhale bt N. Raghavi; T.T.Lakshmi Priya lost to Saheli Dhar Barua; Bhagyasree Thipsay bt Kajri Choksi; Dhyani Dave lost to Nisha Mohota; Pallavi Shah bt Sonam Shah; Pranjali Chandrate lost to Sai Meera Ravi; Sreeparna Chakravarthy bt Jyohi Nishad; S. Kavitha lost to Anoori Shah; Dolan Champa Bose bt B.Rama Devi; P. Sushmita lost to Tanya Sachdev; Shafira Shahnaz drew with Niharika Thakkar; Anupritha Patil bt Shraddha Somani; P.Priya bt Abha Thakur ; Siva Shankari lost to C. Delphine; Nabeela Farheen bt Pubali Goswami; Vidya Fotto lost to Eesha Karavade; Arpi Shah bt T. Arvinda Lochani; Meena Fotto lost to S. Sujatha ; Baisakhi Das bt Shahjaben; Pooja Rathod drew with E. Sheena; Y. Pratibha bt Alka Das; P. Dasgupta lost to Swathi Mohota; M.R. Sangeetha bt Tripti Soni; P. Sudha drew with Bindu Saritha; C.H. Kavitah bt P.V. Nirmala; K. Nayana lost to Kiran Agarwal; S.R. Radha bt Mrunalini; M. Manojna lost to Saheli Nath; J.E. Kavitha bt B.K. Srivani; K.P. Pallavi lost to C.V. Rajyalakshmi; D. Harika bt Vandana; Sasi Prabha lost to Kartika Nadig; N. Vinuthna bt L. Praneetha Das; Manisha Singh lost to M. Rajadarshini; Ramya Krishna bt S. Latha; K. Sasikala lost to D. Minu; N. Sandhya bt N. Jahnavi; T. Amruthavarhini lost to Amrutha Mokal; T. Venalla bt M. Sindhu; Junmoni Gogoi lost to H. Nilavoli; B.S. Keerthi lost to Purabhi Singha; Jaya Arunmathi bt Chandrahasa; V. Sindhu bt R. Saranya; K. Sindhu lost to P.M. Selvi; Nazia Nona bt Lakshmi Keerthi; Mugda Dolas lost to Sowmya Swaminathan; P. Lakshmi Sahiti drew with Anjana Sowjanya ; Madona Sri drew with Prasanna; M. Sailaja bt K. Ruby.

Second round: Kiran Agarwal (1) lost to Anupama Gokhale (2); Saheli Dhar Barua (2) bt S.R. Radha (1); Saheli Nath (1) lost to Bhagyasre Thipsay (2); Nisha Mohota (10 lost to J.E. Kavitha (2); C.V. Rajyalaxmi (1) lost to Pallavi Shah (2); Sai Meera Ravi (1.5) drew with D. Harika; K. Nadig (2) bt Sreeparna Chakravarthy 1); M. Rajadarshini (1.5) drew with D.C.Bose (1.5); Tanya Sachdev (2) bt I. Ramya krishna (1); H. Nilavoli (1.5) drew with Arpi Shah (1.5); Prabhi Singha (2) bt V.K. Sindhu (1); S. Sujatha (2) bt Nazia Nona (1); P.Malarselvi (1.5) drew with Baisakhi Das (1.5); Sowmya Swaminathan (2) bt Y. Prathiba (1); Swathi Mohota (2) bt M. Sailaja (1); Anupritha Patil (1.5) drew with Ch. Kavitha (1.5); Niharika Thakkar (1.5) bt P.L. Sahiti (0.5; Prasanna (1.5) bt P. Sudha (0.5); Sradha Somani (1) bt Madana Sree (0.5); Chandrahasa (1) bt K. Nayanaa (nil).

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