The Hindu : Supriya shocks Shraddha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 29, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Supriya shocks Shraddha

VIJAYAWADA April 28. Rank outsider Supriya Maji of Goodricke Chess Academy shocked second seeded Shraddha Samani of Maharashtra in the opening round of the GMC Balayogi National under-18 girls chess championships at the Krishnaveni Residential Talent School here on Sunday.

Playing white, Maji employed e4 to which Samani replied with the Scotch defence. The former resorted to Scotch Gambit and until the 12th went by the book. The unconventional Bd2 by white on the next move saw an effort by black to take the initiative. Samani miscalculated in sacrificing a pawn and a knight in return for which she got two pawns, poor compensation for her losses.

Maji's king was under no threat even as Samani's material loss mounted a few moves later, forcing the latter to resign on the 24th.

Top seed M. Kasturi of Tamil Nadu responded with Alpin against Ayushi Rai Chowdhry's Sicilian defence. When Chowdhry played Na5 to attack her rival's queen, Kasturi moved it, leaving the former's knight misplaced. Presently, Kasturi opened up the centre by d5 against Chowdhry, struggling since the 20th in time pressure. The Orissa player surrendered eight moves later.

G. Pratheeka's King's Indian attack was countered by Soumya Swaminathan's corresponding defence. A tussle for the centre followed. In queenside play, Pratheeka erred in playing Kh1 and lost a pawn. Subsequently, she lost the e4 pawn and a few moves later, a piece as well. Faced with a mate, Pratheeka resigned on the 34th.

The Speaker of the A.P. State Assembly, Pratibha Bharathi, in the presence of State Sports Minister, P. Ramulu, inaugurated the eight-day meet being hosted by the Katragadda Venkatnarayana Trust.

The results (first round): M. Kasturi (TN) 1 bt Ayushi Rai Chowdhry (Ori), Supriya Maji (Goodricke) 1 bt Shraddha Samani (Mah), Aneeqha Tahseen (CAPA) lost to Anupreeta Patil (Mah)

1, C. Delphin (Masters Chess Academy) 1 bt Raja Suriya (CCA), T.A. Varshini (AP 1 lost to P. Priya (TN), K. Nilavoli (Chennai) 1 bt Priyanka S. Kale (Kar), G. Pratheeka (Kar) lost Soumya Swaminathan (Mah) 1, M. Raj Darshini (Emmanuel) 1 bt M.V. Mounika (AP), N. Vinuthna (AP) 1 bt Paramitha Ghosh (Ben), Baisaki Das (Ben) 1 bt K. Lakshmi Praneetha (AP), T. Srijahnavi

(AP) lost to T. Vennela 1 (AP), K. Chandrahasa (AP) 1 bt G. Raja Sree (AP), K.M. Mohanty 1 (Ori) bt I. Ramya Krishna (AP), K. Nayana (AP) 1 bt G. Sandhya (AP), K. Sirisha (AP) lost to K.E. Kavitha (TN), Anuradha Beniwal (Har) 1 bt K. Geetha Shruthi (AP).

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