Meenakshi denies Bhagyashree a full point Viji finds a win

Safira and Pallavi faced each other in the Sicilian Pelikan — two other games started similarly but with white opting for the Sozin attack. Pallavi played an attacking game but the exchanges slowly eroded her position. Safira beat back the attack and by move 21, she seemed to have the advantage. On move 24, Safira offered a bishop sacrifice to net the white rook and two pawns. Pallavi fought back to recover a pawn on the h file and created a passed pawn. Pallavi forced the exchange of queens to her disadvantage. The end game saw the white king face two rooks with his own rook and knight. However, all of Safira’s pawns on the king’s side faced no opposition. White’s passed pawns on b and d were mere toothless threats. Pallavi decided to shake hands in surrender. The game saw lots of action and less of finesse — like a well made B-grade Bollywood film, but entertaining never the less and so the game of the day.

Unrated Sujatha S opened with her king pawn to receive traditional Caro-Kann reply from Vijayalakshmi. Viji opted for the Nimzowitsch Main Line and the two played within the framework till Viji decided to open the fireworks with her 13… Qa5 check. It is not clear whether Sujatha anticipated black’s next move, Bxf2. From then it was the beginning of the end. To Sujatha’s credit, it must be noted that she tried a counter attack on move 27 with Rxf6 looking for a mate sequence with the queen and the bishop on d3. Or if Viji’s king opted to move to f8 instead of h8 after white’s Qxg4+, Sujatha might have nursed a hope of promoting the passed pawn on the h file. In a swift clinical execution Viji shattered her ambitions. The rooks took the g file into their possession and Sujatha surrendered. With the win Viji forged ahead of the rest of the group by 1 point. She has now 6.5 points.

Meenakshi created an upset of sorts by drawing with Bhagyashree Thipsay. Playing the Sicilian/ Pelikan/ Sozin, like Pratibha Y and Aarthie Ramaswamy on the table near by, Bhagyashree could not dent Meenakshi’s defences. Both Meenakshi and Saheli’s mental make-up reminded one of Tigran Petrosian. Play solidly, if you get even half a chance pounce on it mercilessly, but do not be needlessly adventurous. If the game seems doubtful then immediately work out a drawish variation. It requires that little extra genius play to down draw masters like Petrosian.

Bhagyashree and Meenakshi agreed to a draw after 45 moves. Both Meenakshi and Saheli are yet to lose a game. Meenakshi is now the lone third with 5 points.

Swati Ghate and Saheli Dhar Barua started a clash in the symmetrical game of the Steinitz Variation of Petrov’s Defence. Both played a solid game. Swati, in search of a clear win, could not get Saheli to make any serious positional error despite an attacking game. Saheli must have opted for the Petrov because, unless white comes up with new attacking ideas, the game normally leads to a draw. Shunning adventure and playing solidly is a characteristic of Saheli’s game. Both agreed to split the point after 39 moves.

Facing the Sicilian of an upbeat Baisakhi Das who defeated Anupama Gokhale on Thursday, Neha Singh took 54 moves to decide the match in her favour. With this win, her first, Neha has now notched 2.5 points. In the National B encounter between the two Baisakhi had defeated Neha.

Y Praibha and R Aarthie fought a long hard battle lasting 64 moves in the Sicilian defence. Aarthie chose the Sozin attack in reply to the Pelican. The end game reduced to white’s king and knight to black’s king and bishop. Black had the advantage of passed pawns. Pratibha tried hard to salvage a draw, but Aarthie played the endgame to perfection to prevail over her state colleague.

Results (9th round): Vijayalakshmi S (6.5) bt S Sujatha (3.5); Swati Ghate (4.5) drew with Saheli Dhar Barua (5.5); Neha Singh (2.5) bt Baisakhi Das (1); Pallavi Shah (4.5) lost to Safira Shahnaz (5.5), S Meenakshi (5) drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (4.5); Y Pratibha (3) lost to R Aarthie (4); Anupama Gokhale (4) Bye.