Bhagyashree still in lead

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

VISAKHAPATNAM, JULY 31. A spate of draws were witnessed in the ninth round of the 28th YMCA National `B' women's chess championship here on Tuesday. The top nine boards all ended in draws. In the evening session, during the tenth round also, the trend continued.

At the end of the penultimate day, Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI) with 7.5 points continued to lead the field followed by eleven players, who had seven points each. They include Sai Meera Ravi (Indian Bank), Dolan Champa Bose (Jharkhand), Anupama Gokhale (PSCB), Safira Shanaz (TN), Saheli Dhar Barua (Railways), Tania Sachdev (Delhi), Nisha Mohota (WB), H. Nilavoli (TN), P. Priya (CAPA), Eesha Karwade (Maharashtra) and D. Harika (AP).

The top players were clearly unwilling to take any risks at this stage. Their main objective was to ensure a placing in the top ten so as to qualify for the National `A' championship.

In the morning session (ninth round), only the match between Safira Shanaz of Tamil Nadu and Nisha Mohota on the fourth board offered some interest. This turned out to be a keen contest mainly because Safira the 24-year-old from Tamil Nadu had a great chance to defeat Nisha and thereby join Bhagyashree Thipsay as the leader.

Safira playing white began on a confident note and soon established her dominance. She developed her game well and in the middle was a pawn up. Consolidating her position, Safira at one stage seemed almost certain of a victory. For the first time there was a sense of excitement in the air as the two battled it out long after all the other contests had finished.

But luck was not with Safira, as despite having territorial and numerical advantage she was unable to deliver the final blow and her opponent Nisha hung on grimly till time ran out and the match ended in a draw after 49 moves.

On the top board Bhagyashree drew with Anupama after only five moves. On the second board Saheli Dhar Barua and Dolan Champa Bose were involved in a French defence exchange variation but quickly settled for a draw after only 19 moves. On the third board Tania Sachdev and Sai Meera Ravi drew after 21 moves.

The results (tenth round): Sai Meera Ravi (7) drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (7.5); Dolan Champa Bose (7) drew with Anupama Gokhale (7); Safira Shanaz (7) drew with Saheli Dhar Barua (7); C. Delphin (6.5) drew with Tania Sachdev (7); Nisha Mohota (7) bt Swathi Mohota (6); Y. Prathibha (6.5) drew with Pallavi G. Shah (6.5); H. Nilavoli (7) bt Shraddha Samani (6); M.R. Sangeetha (6) lost to P. Priya (7); Eesha Karwade (7) bt J.E. Kavitha (6); Purabi Singha (6.5) drew with Anuprita Patil (6.5).

Sreeparna Chakrabarthy (5.5) lost to D. Harika (7); Kiran Agarwal (6.5) bt Nabeela Farheen (5.5); T. Venela (6) drew with Baisakhi Das (6); Sowmya Swaminathan (5.5) lost to Bindu K. Saritha (6.5); Ch. Kavitha (6) drew with Mugda Dolas (6); Anoori Shah (5.5) drew with T.T. Lakshmi Priya (6); N. Raghavi (5.5) drew with E. Sheena (5.5); B.S. Keerthi (5) lost to Kruthika Nadig (6); P.L. Sahiti (5) lost to N. Vinuthna (6); N. Sandhya (6) bt Abha Thakur (5).

Amrutha Mokal (6) bt Pooja Rathod (5); Alka Das (6) bt Arpi Shah (4.5); S. Sujatha (5.5) bt Dhayni Dave (4.5); S.R. Radha (5) drew with T. Aravinda Lochani (5); Saheli Nath (5.5) bt K. Nayana (4.5); C.V. Rajalakshmi (5) drew with P. Malarselvi (5); M. Rajadarshini (5.5) bt S. Kavitha (4.5); Niharika Thakkar (5.5) bt I. Ramyakrishna (4.5); K. Chandrahasa (5.5) bt Shahzabeen (4.5); P. Sudha (5) drw with V.K. Sindhu (5).

D. Minu (5) bt G. Madanasri (4); N. Manojna (5) bt Nazia Nona U.K. (4); Prasanna (4.5) drew with P.V. Nirmala (4.5); Junmoni Gogoi (4.5) drew with Pranjali Chandrate (4.5); B.K. Srivani (4) lost to Sivasankari (5); Jaya Arunamthi (5) bt Pampa Dasgupta (4); K.L. Praneetha (4.5) bt M. Sailaja (3.5); P. Utahra (4.5) bt Tripti Soni (3.5); Kajri Choksi (3.5) lost to V. Mrunalini (4.5); R. Sharanya (4.5) bt Sonam Shah (3.5).

Jyothi Nishad (3.5) lost to K.P. Palavi Maiya (4.5); Meena Fotta (3.5) lost to Anjana Sowjanya (4.5); M.Sindhu (4) bt P. Sushmitha (3); Pubali Goswami (4) bt Sasi Prabha Singh (3); Lakshmi Keerthi (3) lost to Vidya Fotta (4); Vandana (3) drew with Manisha Singh (3); K. Sindhu (3.5) bt S. Latha (2); T. Amrutha Varshini (3) bt K. Sasikala (2).

The results (ninth round): Anupama Gokhale (6.5) drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (7); Saheli-Dhar Barua (6.5) drew with Dolan Champa Bose (6.5); Tania Sachdev (6.5) drew with Sai Meera Ravi (6.5); Safia Shanaz (6.5) drew with Nisha Mohota (6); D.Harika (6) drew with Pallavi Shah (6); Shraddha Samani (6) drew wih M.R.Sangeetha (6); Eesha Karwade (6) drew with H.Nilavoli (6); Swathi Mohota (6) drew with J.E.Kavitha (6); Sreeparna Chakrabarthy (5.5) drew with Ch. Kavitha (5.5); P.Priya (6) bt Amrutha Mokal (5).

N.Vinuthha (5) lost to C.Delphin (6); Kruthika Nadig (5) lost to Purabi Singha (6); E.Sheena (5) lost to Anuprita Patil (6); N.Sandhya (5) lost to Y.Pratibha (6); Nabeela Farheen (5.5) bt I.Ramya Krishna (4.5); T.Venela (5.5) bt Arpi Shah (4.5); Sowmya Swaminathan (5.5) bt S.Sujatha (4.5); Baisakhi Das (5.5) bt M.Rajadarshini (4.5); Bindu K. Saritha (5.5) bt P.Malarselvi (4.5); Kiran Agarwal (5.5) bt Niharika Thakkar (4.5).

T.T.Lakshmi Priya (5.5) bt Saheli Nath (4.5); Mugda Dolas (5.5) bt C.V.Rajalakshmi (4.5); S.R.Radha (4.5) drew with Pooja Rathod (5); Sivasankari (4) lost to Anooi Shah (5); Abha Thakur (5) bt D.Minu (4); B.K.Srivani (4) lost to B.S.Keerthi (5); T. Aravinda Lochani (4.5) drew with K.Chandrahasa (4.5); Nazia Nona U.K. (4) lost to Alka Das (5); Pampa Dasgupta (4) lost to P.L.Sahiti (5); P.V.Nirmala (4) lost to N.Raghavi (5).

V.K.Sindhu (4.5) bt Meena Fotta (3.5); M.Sailaja (3.5) lost to Shahzabeen (4.5); P.Uthara (3.5) lost to P.Sudha (4.5); K.Nayana (4.5) bt Kajri Choksi (3.5); Dhayani Dave (4.5) bt K.L.Praneetha (4.5); Pranjali Chandrate (4) drew with Jaya Arunmathi (4); V.Mrunalini (3.5) lost to S.Kavitha (4.5); Anjana Sowjanya (3.5) lost to Prasanna (4); K.P.Pallavi Maiya (3.5) drew with Sonam Shah (3.5); P.Susmitha (3) lost to Junmoni Gogoi (4).

N.Manojna (4) bt Pubali Goswami (3); Tripti Soni (3.5) drew with R.Sharanya (3.5); G.Madanasri (4) bt Manisha Singh (2.5); Jyothi Nishad (3.5) bt K.Sindhu (2.5); B.Lakshmi Keerthi (3) drew with M.Sindhu (3); Vidya Fotta (3) bt T.Amrutha Varshini (2); S.Latha (2) lost to Sasiprabha Singh (3); K.Sasikala (2) bt N.Jahanavi (2); B.Ramadevi (1) lost to Vandana (2.5).

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