Women Challengers 2017 Round 7: Lakshmi joins Soumya at the top

by C.K. Muralidharan - 25/07/2017

After seven rounds at the National Women's Challengers 2017 we have one expected leader and one completely unexpected! Top seeded Soumya Swaminathan is on 6.0/7 and she is joined by 30th seed of the event Laskhmi C. The girl from Tamil Nadu is already gaining 117 Elo points! Mind boggling indeed. The experienced players are back at the top. Kiran, Manisha Mohanty, Nisha Mohota, Mary Ann Gomes, Bhakti Kulkarni and Meenakshi.S are all on 5.5/7. Round eight will witness top board fight between the two leaders Soumya and Lakshmi. As of now here's the round seven report from Mysore.

Two players, WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) and WFM Lakshmi C (TN) with six points from seven rounds jointly share the lead at the end of the seventh round, in the 44th National women challengers chess championship 2017.

Lakshmi C. from Tamil Nadu has been the surprise package of this tournament

Lakshmi's scorecard. She is already gaining 117 elo points!

Five players, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC), WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB), WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (AI), IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) and WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (AAI) are tied with 5.5 points and are placed from third to seven in the rankings after the seventh round.

Playing with black pieces on the top board, top-seed Soumya Swaminathan was held to a draw by WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) in 27 moves.

[Event "44th NATIONAL WOMEN CHALLENGERS CHESS CH"]
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.25"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Kiran, Manisha Mohanty"]
[Black "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
[BlackElo "2349"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Qc7 7. O-O d6 8. exd6
Bxd6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 O-O 12. Nd2 Bc5 13. Qc4 Nb6 14. Qe2 e5
15. Nb3 Bd6 16. f4 Be6 17. fxe5 Bxe5 18. Bf4 Bxf4 19. Rxf4 Bd5 20. Bxd5 Nxd5
21. Rc4 Qb6+ 22. Qf2 Qg6 23. Rd4 Nf6 24. Rf1 Rfe8 25. Qf5 Qxf5 26. Rxf5 Re7 27.
Rf1 1/2-1/2

Second seed WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) was involved in a 39 moves drawn game with WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India) on the second board.

[Event "44th NATIONAL WOMEN CHALLENGERS CHESS CH"]
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.25"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Gomes, Mary Ann"]
[Black "Kulkarni, Bhakti"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2331"]
[BlackElo "2255"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. c4 c6 5. Ne5 Be6 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Nc3 Bc6 9. O-O e6 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Qc2 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Be7 14. Rd1
O-O 15. h3 Rc8 16. e4 Bb4 17. Be3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Qa5 19. Ne2 Rc4 20. Rd4 Rfc8
21. Rad1 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 b5 23. Bg5 e5 24. Rd1 h6 25. Bxf6 Nxf6 26. f3 Rc4 27.
Rd3 Ra4 28. Nc1 Kf8 29. Qd2 Ke7 30. g4 Qc7 31. Nb3 Rc4 32. Qb2 Ra4 33. Nd2 a6
34. Nf1 Qc4 35. Rd2 Qc5 36. Rd3 Qc4 37. Rd2 Qc5 38. Rd3 Qc4 39. Rd2 1/2-1/2

On the third board, WFM Lakshmi C of Tamil Nadu continued her fine form by registering a well earned win over state-mate WIM Mahalakshmi M in 45 moves.

[Event "44th NATIONAL WOMEN CHALLENGERS CHESS CH"]
[Site "Mysore Sports Club, Mysuru, Ka"]
[Date "2017.07.25"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Lakshmi, C."]
[Black "Mahalakshmi, M."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1952"]
[BlackElo "2154"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.07.21"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Qd2 a6 8. f4
c5 9. O-O-O Nc6 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Nf3 b5 12. Bd3 Bd7 13. Kb1 Rb8 14. Ne2 b4 15.
Ned4 Na4 16. Ka1 Na5 17. Qe2 g6 18. Rb1 Qd8 19. g4 Nc5 20. Nd2 b3 21. a3 Nxd3
22. cxd3 Qb6 23. N2f3 Rc8 24. Rbc1 Ke7 25. Qe3 Qb7 26. f5 Rxc1+ 27. Rxc1 Rc8
28. Qg5+ Ke8 29. Rf1 Rc5 30. fxg6 hxg6 31. Qf6 Qc7 32. Ne2 Bb5 33. Ng5 Qe7 34.
Qh8+ Kd7 35. Rxf7 Qxf7 36. Nxf7 Rc8 37. Qg7 Kc6 38. Nd6 Rc7 39. Qxg6 Kb6 40.
Qxe6 Bxd3 41. Nc4+ Kb7 42. Qb6+ Kc8 43. Nd6+ Kd8 44. Qb8+ Kd7 45. Qe8# 1-0

Round seven in progress!

WFM G.Lasya (AP) playing with white pieces held Commonwealth champion and third-seed WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) to a creditable draw in 88 moves on the fourth board.

On the fifth board, IM Nisha Mohota- 5.5 points (PSPB) came back strongly by registering a good win over Tamil Nadu's K.Priyanka (4.5 points) in 38 moves.

WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (AAI) scored a convincing win over Makhija Aashna (Mah) in 79 moves on the sixth board. WIM Nandhidhaa Pv (AAI) playing with black pieces scored a good win over Divya Lakshmi R (TN) in 69 moves in the eighth board.

Round eight will witness the exciting battle between two leaders Soumya Swaminathan and Lakshmi C.

Results of round 7

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	13	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2170	LIC	5	½ - ½	5½	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2349	PSPB	1
2	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2331	PSPB	5	½ - ½	5	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2255	AI	5
3	30	WFM	Lakshmi C	1952	TN	5	1 - 0	5	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2154	TN	15
4	20	WFM	Lasya.G	2097	AP	4½	½ - ½	4½	WGM	Swati Ghate	2278	LIC	3
5	4	IM	Mohota Nisha	2271	PSPB	4½	1 - 0	4½		Priyanka K	2081	TN	21
6	10	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2181	AAI	4½	1 - 0	4½		Makhija Aashna	1947	MAH	31
7	27	WCM	Jyothsna L	1964	TN	4½	½ - ½	4½		Harshita Guddanti	2180	AP	11
8	29		Divya Lakshmi R	1957	TN	4	0 - 1	4	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	2221	AAI	7
9	8	WFM	Srija Seshadri	2200	DEL	4	1 - 0	4	WCM	Isha Sharma	1878	KAR	37
10	12	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2177	TN	4	½ - ½	4		Meenu Rajendran	1918	KER	34

Complete results

Rank after round 7:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2349	PSPB	6,0	0,0	29,0	33,0
2	30	WFM	Lakshmi C	IND	1952	TN	6,0	0,0	28,0	31,0
3	13	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2170	LIC	5,5	0,0	30,0	33,0
4	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2331	PSPB	5,5	0,0	29,5	33,0
5	5	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2255	AI	5,5	0,0	26,0	29,0
6	4	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2271	PSPB	5,5	0,0	25,5	28,5
7	10	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2181	AAI	5,5	0,0	23,5	26,5
8	15	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	2154	TN	5,0	0,0	30,5	32,5
9	20	WFM	Lasya.G	IND	2097	AP	5,0	0,0	29,0	32,0
10	16	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	IND	2140	MAH	5,0	0,0	28,0	30,5

Complete list of ranking

Pairing for round 8

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2349	PSPB	6		6	WFM	Lakshmi C	1952	TN	30
2	10	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	2181	AAI	5½		5½	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2331	PSPB	2
3	5	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	2255	AI	5½		5½	IM	Mohota Nisha	2271	PSPB	4
4	3	WGM	Swati Ghate	2278	LIC	5		5½	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2170	LIC	13
5	7	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	2221	AAI	5		5	WFM	Lasya.G	2097	AP	20
6	19	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2100	WB	5		5	WFM	Srija Seshadri	2200	DEL	8
7	11		Harshita Guddanti	2180	AP	5		5	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	2072	AI	22
8	15	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2154	TN	5		5		Bala Kannamma P	1977	TN	25
9	16	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	2140	MAH	5		5	WCM	Jyothsna L	1964	TN	27
10	38		Sandhya G	1873	AP	4½		4½	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	2177	TN	12

Complete pairing list

Download games in PGN format

About the author

C.K.Muralidharan is a 55-year-old Free-lance Sports Journalist based in Mysore. He has 20 years of experience in sports journalism. He contributes to the Hindu National daily and Daily Star of Mysore on all sports in Mysore for the last 15 years. He has been covering sports in Mysore on his website - www.mysoresport.com. He is the promoter of Mysore Professional Chess Academy. IM M.S.Thejkumar is the Vice-President of the Academy and supervises the coaching programme. He works with the Mysore District Chess Association in order to spread the game of chess through the chess in schools program.