Bhagyashree builds on lead

Four players are at the second spot with 5.5 points — top seed Saheli Dhar-Barua (South East Railways), N Sarita Reddy (Hindustan Power Plus), M Sai Meera (BSB) and Aarthie Ramaswamy (TN).

Saheli drew again, her third draw from as many rounds, against Sai Meera while Sarita, who was held twice in the opening three rounds, has come back into contention with another victory — over PR Rekha of Karnataka.

Another point for those in the second position should assure them a berth for the premier Nationals while the eight players in the third spot with five points can hope to gain entry if they score another 1.5 points.

Bhagyashree, who after a gap of 17 years was forced to qualify from National B, was visibly relieved with today’s victory over Nisha which came in 40 moves. “During the women’s National A in Calcutta this year and the men’s National B championships in Calicut, I was not keeping good health. That was the reason I drew the last three rounds in Calicut. I had gone there with the intention of practicing, but could not play well,” the five-times national champion said.

Bhagyashree faced Nisha’s Alekhine defence and had the advantage of an extra pawn. Nisha played passively and when Bhagyashree’s pawn reached the seventh rank, the former resigned, after 40 moves.

Saheli was a bishop in advantage against Sai Meera but could not find the correct continuation and drew after 62 moves.

Sarita played the Caro Kann and kept pressure on Rekha’s queenside on the third board. In the rook and bishop ending, Sarita had two advanced pawns, on the sixth and the seventh ranks. Rekha would have lost heavy material in preventing them from queening.

Pallavi, who was held for the second consecutive day, made a wrong plan in her middle game after playing the Kings India defence against Purabhi Singha (Assam). When Pallavi accepted the draw, Purabhi was having a better position.

Sreeparna Chakborthy loves to play the Sicilian Dragon and today was the third day she opted for this defence. Aarthie replied with the Yugoslav attack. She captured Sreeparna’s bishop and when the black King was getting mated, the latter resigned after 26 moves.

Mrunalini Kunte (5 points), who represented the country in the previous Olympiad, fought back into contention with a seventh round victory over S Sujatha of Tamil Nadu. Sujata blundered and lost a knight during the second time trouble and faced a mating threat when she gave up after 63 moves.Results (7th round): Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI) 6.5 bt Nisha Mohota (WB) 5; Saheli Dhar-Barua (SE Rlys) 5.5 drew with M Sai Meera (BSB) 5.5; PR Rekha (Kar) 4.5 lost to N Sarita Reddy (TN) 5.5; Purabhi Singh (Assam) 5 drew with Pallavi Shah (Mah) 5; Aarthie Ramaswamy (TN) 5.5 bt Sreeparna Chakraborty (WB) 4.5; Swati Mohota (WB) 5 bt Kavitha (AP) 4.5; S Sujatha (TN) 4 lost to Mrunalini Kunte (Mah) 5; PV Nirmala (TN) 4 lost to SR Radha (PSCB) 5; S Madhavi Lata (AP) 4 lost to Neha Singh (Bihar) 5; Pushpalata Mangal (BSB) 5 bt R Hemalatha (Kar) 4; Koneru Humpy (AP) lost to Nivedita Sagade (Mah) 5; Kiran Agarwal (AICF) 4.5 bt Mugdha Dolas (Mah) 4; Preetha Subhash (Ker) 4 drew with Anuradha Beniwal (Har) 4; CV Rajalakshmi (TN) 4.5 bt Manasi Dadarkar (Mah) 3.5; S Cynthia (TN) 4 drew with Ananya Sarkar (GCA) 4; MR Sangeeta (TN) 4.5 bt Sushma Singh (Bihar) 3.5; Ashwini Pacharpurkar (4.5 bt Zeal Mehta (Guj) 3.5; Ashwini Kulkarni (Mah) 4 drew with Amrita Mokjal (Mah) 4; N Vinuthna (AP) 3 lost to Anjali Palande (Mah) 4; E Sheena (Kar) 3.5 drew with L Sunderi Devi (Mani) 3.5.