Meenakshi beats Viji for 2nd spot; Pallavi in Indian team

As it ultimately turned out, even if Saheli Dhar-Barua had tied with Viji and Meenakshi by winning her game on Tuesday, it would have made no difference to the final standings.

According to the chief arbiter Rajendra Sagar, Saheli would still have stood third — Meenakshi finishing second on a better average than Saheli under the Koya system.

That may the reason why Saheli did not make too great an attempt to alter the state of things. She had to ensure a draw to reach eight points, which is exactly what she did, holding rival Sujatha S to a comfortable draw.

The game itself was a curious variation of the Dutch deployed by Saheli.Sujatha made it to the top 10, ahead of Pratibha Y, Neha Singh and Baisakhi Das.

Saheli’s Grandmaster husband Dibeyendu Barua had also stood third at the Andheri Nationals and together they will now head for the Istanbul Olympiad.

Pallavi Shah (Maharashtra) brought about a quick 20-move end to Baisakhi’s Sicilian in the Kan variation – the win helping her book a ticket to Istanbul.

Baisakhi’s was listless, probably because of the high fever she has been running for three days. It was incredible that she did not see 20. Ba5 when she moved the king to d8 to get out of check. There was a lot of play left had the king moved to e8 instead.

Bhagyashree Thipsay failed to score a full point against Neha. Neha did not yield her Sicilian for 42 moves before agreeing to a draw.

Bhagyashree dropped a couple of spots from last year’s standings to be placed sixth.

Swati Ghate, who had a bye on Tuesday, finished fifth with seven points.She was last year’s runner up.

Anupama Gokhale won her last round in 34 moves against Y Pratibha starting with Robatsch. Pratibha countered with the Austrian. Anupama used her experience to gradually erode Pratibha’s position. Anupama stood 7th with 6.5 points.

Safira Shahnaz suffered another defeat, losing to R Aarthie, the World Under-18 champion, in 30 moves. Aarthie, playing black, answered the Torre with the pseudo King’s Indian. Safira finished 8th, followed by Aarthie.

The Viji-Meenakshi game was the longest. Viji, who was heard saying she played passively, started with the King’s Indian Attack/Barcza Opening.

The game went along known lines till Meenakshi stepped out of the book with Bf5. The two cleared the h file with the black rook overlooking it. Meenakshi castled long. The idea was clear. A king side attack would ensue. Castling long also meant danger for the black since white’s queenside pawns were in confrontation and white’s rooks and queen were behind them to start mayhem.

Viji launched b5. Black’s h rook advanced to h3. The pawn exchange brought the black queen to c6. Black’s rooks doubled on the h file. The f pawn moves to create space for the white king to escape checkmate. And so on it went. Both enjoyed the game till Viji conceded defeat on the 47th move.

Final Standings: 1. S Vijayalakshmi, 2. S Meenakshi, 3. Saheli Dhar-Barua, 4. Pallavi Shah, 5. Swati Ghate, 6. Bhagyashree Thipsay, 7. Anupama Gokhale, 8. Safira Sahanaz, 9. R Aarthie, 10. S Sujatha, 11. Y Pratibha, 12. Neha Singh, 13. Baisakhi Das.

Results: Final Round (points in brackets): S Vijayalakshmi (Indian Airlines, 8.5) lost to S Meenakshi (TN, 8.5), Saheli Dhar-Barua (Railways, 8) drew with S Sujatha (TN, 4), Pallavi Shah (LIC, 7.5) bt Baisakhi Das (WB, 1.5); Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI, 7) drew with Neha Singh (Bihar, 3.5),Anupama Gokhale (BPSCB, 6.5) bt Y Pratibha (TN, 3.5), Safira Shahnaz (Tamil Nadu, 6.5) lost to R Aarthie (Wipro, 5), Swati Ghate (LIC-7) had a bye.

Game of the Day:

White: S Vijayalakshmi (Elo 2383) Black: S Meenakshi (Elo 2195) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bf5 5. b3 e6 6. Bb2 Nbd7 7. d4 Bd6 8. Nbd2 Qc7 9. c4 h5 10. c5 Be7 11. b4 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Ne1 Bxg2 14. Nxg2 h4 15. Qd3 hxg3 16. hxg3 O-O-O 17. b5 Rh6 18. bxc6 Qxc6 19. a4 Rdh8 20. f3 Qc7 21. Kf2 g5 22. Rg1 Rh2 23. c6 bxc6 24. Qa6+ Qb7 25. Qxb7+ Kxb7 26. Rgb1 Kc7 27. Bc3 Rb8 28. Ba5+ Nb6 29. Rb3 Rhh8 30. Rab1 Rb7 31. Ne1 Rhb8 32. Nd3 Kc8 33. Bxb6 Rxb6 34. Rxb6 Rxb6 35. Rxb6 axb6 36. Ne5 Bf6 37. Nxf7 Bxd4+ 38. Kg2 Bf6 39. Kh3 Kc7 40. Kg4 b5 41. axb5 cxb5 42. f4 gxf4 43. Kxf4 b4 44. Ke3 Kd7 45. g4 Ke7 46. g5 Kxf7 47. gxf6 Kxf6 White resigned.