Nisha Mohota emerges sole leader

By Arvind Aaron

CHENNAI, SEPT. 6. International Woman Master Nisha Mohota of Kolkata wrested sole lead with a victory over overnight leader Huang Qian of China and a draw against top seed Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman in the ninth India Cements Asian women's chess championship here on Thursday.

After six rounds, 21-year-old Nisha Mohota leads with five points from six rounds. In second place are WGM Vijayalakshmi, Wang Yu (Chn) and Li Ruofan (Chn) with 4.5 points each. Five players are tied for the fifth place with four points - Huang Qian (Chn), R. Aarthie (Ind), Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie), Swati Ghate (Ind) and Mekhri Geldeyeva (Trk).

Two rounds were held on Thursday and in the sixth round, the battle for supremacy shifted to two Indian players as they fought a balanced 52-move draw from a queen's gambit declined opening on the top table.

Attracting the most spectators, this Vijayalakshmi versus Nisha Mohota duel had an exciting knight ending with the former having an extra pawn and the latter a passed pawn. Chances equal, it depended on practical skills and Nisha was able to hold on despite the pressure exerted by her experienced rival although her draw offer was rejected once on move 48. But after three more moves, Nisha forced her opponent to share points.

Nisha Mohota told The Hindu that white could have kept the advantage had she retained queens ond not exchanged them off on the 34th move and gone for the pawn. Vijayalakshmi's extra pawn meant nothing as she drew in 51 moves.

Big setback for Huang

Last night's leader Huang Qian was today's big loser for she was beaten twice. Her second conqueror was Wang Yu from China. Huang lost a pawn after equalising with the black pieces and lost a rook for bishop through a tactic to surrender in 31 moves.

``Chennai is bad venue for me,'' said Swati Ghate who won both her games on Thursday to recover from Tuesday's two losses. In the afternoon session she upset fifth-seeded IWM Le Kieu Thien Kim of Vietnam with the white pieces from an Alekhine defence. ``Black put her knight on the wrong square and blundered,'' said the winner who went on to win easily after picking up a rook.

Meenakshi Subbaraman had a mixed day losing the morning encounter and winning in the afternoon to Chinese players. The win came in 43 moves with the black pieces using good technique in a rook ending.

In one of the round's upset results, the 1991 Asian women's champion Bhagyashree Thipsay was shocked by 11-year-old Harika. Harika played black and controlled the game wonderfully to win with positional play.

The Asian junior girls' champion M. Kasturi from Tamil Nadu held fancied IWM Anupama Gokhale to a creditable 41-move draw after dropping a pawn with the white pieces. The rook and opposite colour bishop ending held her block black's advanced pawns.

In the longest game of the tournament, Prathiba won in 115 moves after missing several shorter ways to win the game against Saheli Barua. Saheli is at the bottom among the Indians. She is accompanied by her husband GM Dibyendu Barua who is training together with GM Krishnan Sasikiran.

Nisha Mohota played a quality game to wrest the lead in the fifth round by defeating overnight leader Huang Qian of China with the white pieces after 54 moves. Winning a pawn on move 20, Nisha forced black into passivity and she controlled the space and exchanges that followed a king's Indian defence opening, Saemish variation. She played purposefully to win an isolated black pawn on move 47 which gave her the winning advantage. Black made things simpler for the Kolkata girl by blundering a bishop on move 50.

Tournament favourite Vijayalakshmi blundered a pawn but showed her customary resilience to attack and finish off Sergeeva Maria of Kazakhstan with a splendid combination in 52 moves. The timely combination was executed by white when black was threatening a mate in one. The unique combination which is good for a puzzle section featured a pin and a fork.

On board three, Aarthie Ramaswamy held second-seeded Wang Yu of China to a draw after just 16 moves with the white pieces from a Petroff's defence.

The result was the same from as many moves on the next board but from a different opening as the Vietnamese players Le Lieu Thien Kim and Nguyen Thi Thanh An decided to share points and keep their qualifying chances mutually alive.

Meenakshi Subbaraman tasted her first defeat when she altered her style to play an aggressive and tactical game to lose to sixth- seeded Gu Xiaobing in 32 moves with the white pieces. She sacrificed a pawn on the 18th move and a bishop on the 28th but did not get the desired compensation.

Bhagyashree Thipsay did not castle and paid for it. WGM Zhao Xue broke through the queen side with a rook for bishop sacrifice to hunt the black king down in a Caro-Kann defence, advanced variation.

Swati Ghate spotted white's passive play and trooped her queen to defeat Dronavalli Harika by winning a piece in a Reti opening game.

Anjela Khegay of Uzbekistan was back to winning ways after she outplayed two-time tournament winner Anupama Gokhale in 36 moves with the black pieces in a rook and minor piece ending that emerged from a modern defence game.

Five rounds remain to be played in this 31-player qualifier for the World women's championship to be held in Moscow from November 24. Ten players will advance from this event provided two zonal tournaments are not held. If they are held, only eight will advance. Friday is a free day and the players are being taken to Mahabalipuram.

The results (sixth round): S. Vijayalakshmi (Ind) 4.5 drew with Nisha Mohota (Ind) 5; Wang Yu (Chn) 4.5 bt Huang Qian (Chn) 4; Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 3.5 lost to Li Ruofan (Chn) 4.5; Sergeeva Maria (Kaz) 3.5 drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 4; Nguyen Thi Thanh An (Vie) 4 bt Zhao Xue (Chn) 3; Swati Ghate (Ind) 4 bt Le Kieu Thien Kim (Vie) 3; Mekhri Geldyeva (Trk) 4 bt Anjela Khegay (Uzb) 3; Yu Ting (Chn) 3.5 bt Iroda Khamrakulova (Uzb) 2.5; Zhang Jilin (Chn) 2.5 lost to S. Meenakshi (Ind) 3.5; M. Kasturi (Ind) 2.5 drew with Anupama Gokhale (Ind) 2.5; Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind) 2 lost to D. Harika (Ind) 3; Vineetha Wijesuriya (Sri) 2 lost to Elena Levushkina (Uzb) 3; Y. Prathiba (Ind) 3 bt Saheli Barua (Ind) 1.5; Zakia Sultana (Ban) 2 drew with Rani Hamid (Ban) 2; Anupama Konara (Sri) 2 drew with Nazrana Khan (Ban) 2; Afroza Khanam Bably (Ban) 2 - bye.

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

The moves:

WGM S. Vijayalakshmi-IWM Nisha Mohota, round six, queen's gambit declined, D36: 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.Qc2 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rae1 Re8 13.Nd2 Nh5 14.Bh6 Bf8 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.b4 a6 17.a4 f5 18.b5 axb5 19.axb5 Ra3 20.Ra1 Qe7 21.Rxa3 Qxa3 22.Qc2 Nhf6 23.bxc6 bxc6 24.Ne2 Rb8 25.Rb1 Rxb1+ 26.Qxb1 Kf7 27.h3 Qa6 28.Nf4 Qb5 29.Qc2 Ne4 30.Nf3 Qc4 31.Qb1 Ke7 32.h4 Kd6 33.Ne5 Qb5 34.Qxb5 cxb5 35.Nxd7 Kxd7 36.Nxd5 Kc6 37.Nb4+ Kb6 38.f3 Nd6 39.Kf2 Ka5 40.Nd3 Ka4 41.Kg3 Kb3 42.Kf4 Kc4 43.Nc5 Nf7 44.h5 b4 45.g4 fxg4 46.fxg4 b3 47.Na4 Kb4 48.Nb2 Kc3 49.Na4+ Kb4 50.Nc5 Kc4 51.Na4 Draw.

WGM S.Vijayalakshmi-IWM Sergeeva Maria, round five, king's Indian defence, E68: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.h3 Nc5 11.Re1 h6 12.b3 Nh7 13.h4 f5 14.b4 Ne6 15.Nxe6 Bxe6 16.Qd3 Nf6 17.Bd2 Ng4 18.h5 Ne5 19.Qc2 Qf6 20.hxg6 fxe4 21.Qxe4 c6 22.Qc2 Nxc4 23.Ne4 Qxg6 24.Bc3 Bxc3 25.Qxc3 Rf8 26.Rad1 Rad8 27.Rd4 d5 28.Nc5 Bc8 29.Nd3 Nd6 30.Rh4 Qf6 31.Qd2 Nf5 32.Rg4+ Kh7 33.Nf4 Rg8 34.Rxg8 Rxg8 35.b5 Nd4 36.Nh5 Nf3+ 37.Bxf3 Qxf3 38.Re7+ Kg6 39.Nf4+ Kf6 40.Re3 Qg4 41.bxc6 bxc6 42.Qc3+ Kf7 43.Qxc6 Qf5 44.Nxd5 Rf8 45.Qc7+ Bd7 46.Nf4 Rc8 47.Qd6 Rc1+ 48.Kh2 Bc6 49.Re7+ Kg8 50.Qd8+ Qf8 51.Rg7+ Kxg7 52.Ne6+ 1-0.

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