I was a National Women Premier 02: Meenakshi surprises Bhakti

Report by I.A Vijayaraghavan V.

Five decisive results in the National Premier was the highlight of the 2nd day in the IWASA 44th National Women Premier Chess Championship 2017, here at The Surat Tennis Club, Surat.

Defending champion IM Padmini Rout took the sole lead with 2 points after beating veteran WGM Swati Ghate of LIC in 61 moves.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729086″][/iframe]

Former World Junior Champion Soumya Swaminathan of PSPB outplayed WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty of LIC in a Sicilian Rauzer attack in 49 moves. A pawn sacrifice on the 25th by Kiran was not enough to pose enough threat and the extra material proved decisive.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729084″][/iframe]

Former National Women Champion WGM Mary Ann Gomes made a quick work against Srishti Pandey of Maharashtra. Playing the Blumenfeld gambit from the black side, Mary’s central pawn thrust & knights outpost in the middle game got her a win in 23 moves.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729054″][/iframe]

WGM Bhakti Kulkarni’s pawn sacrifice on the 17th move against Air India’s WGM Meenakshi turned out to be a tactical mistake. Meenakshi won another pawn when her opponent rejected the exchange offer and scored a crucial point in 31 moves.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729056″][/iframe]

WIM Sakshi Chitlange messed up her game against WIM Pv Nandhidhaa after building some Kingside attack, only to lose in the bishop and pawn endgame in 65 moves.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729058″][/iframe]

The newcomer to Premier, Samriddhaa Ghosh of WB split the point with Bala kannamma of TN in 26 moves. The Sicilian Kan, opted by Bala petered out into Rooks plus opposite colored bishops where neither can make headway.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=3729060″][/iframe]

Pairings and Results

Round 2 on 2017/11/26 at 10.00 AM
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	2159	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	0 – 1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2320	7
2	8	2324	IM	Padmini Rout	1 – 0	WGM	Swati Ghate	2277	6
3	9	1988		Ghosh Samriddhaa	½ – ½		Bala Kannamma P	2058	5
4	10	2190	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	1 – 0	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2248	4
5	11	2165	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	1 – 0	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2311	3
6	1	1885		Pandey Srishti	0 – 1	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2333	2
Round 3 on 2017/11/27 at 10.00 AM
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	2333	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann		WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2159	12
2	3	2311	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti			Pandey Srishti	1885	1
3	4	2248	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi		WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2165	11
4	5	2058		Bala Kannamma P		WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	2190	10
5	6	2277	WGM	Swati Ghate			Ghosh Samriddhaa	1988	9
6	7	2320	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan		IM	Padmini Rout	2324	8