Tata Steel India 2023 Women Rapid R1-3: Divya and Vantika dazzle!

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/08/2023

IM Divya Deshmukh and IM Vantika Agrawal are the early coleaders 2.5/3 after the first day of Tata Steel Chess India 2023 Women Rapid. The reigning Asian Continental Women 2023 champion, Divya made her presence felt from the very first game. She started her campaign with a win against the India no.2 and World no.13 woman, GM Harika Dronavalli. Then she drew against the reigning and four-time Women's World Champion, GM Wenjun Ju (CHN). The teenager finished the day with a victory over 44th Chess Olympiad individual Gold medalist, GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO). After a draw against WGM Savitha Shri B, IM Vantika Agrawal defeated GM Anna Ushenina (UKR), India no.1 and World no.8 woman, GM Koneru Humpy. Round 4 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photos: IA Vivek Sohani/Tata Steel Chess India

A tough start for the GMs and favorites

The field of the second edition of Tata Steel Chess India 2023 Women is a very strong one. The average rating last year was 2396. This year it is 2379. So the difference in numbers are not so much. However, the tenth and eighth seeded, IM Divya Deshmukh and IM Vantika Agrawal rattled many top women player of the world.

IM Divya Deshmukh is certainly aiming sky high in her debut

Round 1: Harika - Divya: 0-1

India no.2 woman, GM Harika Dronavalli (2459) and IM Divya Deshmukh (2216) have had all three results in their first three encounters. However, this was the first time they were playing a rated Rapid game. Harika arrived at a queen, rook and minor piece endgame, down by a pawn.

Position after 31...Qd8

White made a questionable decision of exchanging her bishop with the knight. It improved Black's passed pawn. 32.Bxb5? axb5 33.Qb4? Kh7 even Qd4 was playable too. White's position started deteriorating and soon she blundered.

Position after 51.g4??

51.g4?? just increased white king's vulnerability. 51...Qd1 52.Kg3 Qg1+ 53.Kf3 Qd1+ and Black won the game soon.

GM Harika Dronavalli did not have the best start

Round 2: Vantika - Ushenina: 1-0

IM Vantika Agrawal (2307) lost her first-ever Rapid encounter against the 14th Women's World Champion - GM Anna Ushenina (UKR, 2384) last year at the same time. Vantika was then a WGM and now she is an IM. She has evidently upped her game.

Position after 34...Bc6

34...Bc6?? loses on the spot for Black. Find out the winning continuation.

IM Vantika Agrawal avenged her last year's defeat against GM Anna Ushenina (UKR)

Round 3: Nino - Divya: 0-1

IM Divya Deshmukh beat her second GM of the day, 44th Chess Olympiad individual Gold medalist, GM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO, 2364).

Position after 47...Ra1

Surprisingly, White can still save the game 48.Rc7 e3 49.Rc2+ Kd3 50.Ra2 and now both side gets to promote a queen each and the game ends in a draw. However, White blundered 48.Kb4?? Divya seized her opportunity e3 and went on to win the game using her two queens against opponent's one.

IM Divya Deshmukh ended the first day the same way she started

"The most important thing to fight back is to forget that you were in a horrible position" - IM Divya Deshmukh | Video: ChessBase India

"...Mentally I'm training myself to do well" - IM Vantika Agrawal | Video: ChessBase India

Sarvesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Communications at Tata Steel, made the inaugural first move on GM Koneru Humpy and GM Wenjun Ju's (CHN) board

Round 3 in progress

Tournament Director - Jeron van den Berg

Tata Steel Chess India 2023 Women Rapid | Round 1-3 Live commentary by GM Robert Hess (USA) and IM Soumya Swaminathan | Video: chess.com

Replay Round 1-3 games

Round 1-3 results

Round 1 on 2023/08/31 at 1500 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	2459	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	0 - 1	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	2216	10	PGN
2	2	2364	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	1 - 0	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2358	9	PGN
3	3	2236	WIM	Savitha, Shri B	½ - ½	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2307	8	PGN
4	4	2384	GM	Ushenina, Anna	½ - ½	GM	Krush, Irina	2405	7	PGN
5	5	2473	GM	Koneru, Humpy	½ - ½	GM	Ju, Wenjun	2592	6	PGN
Round 2 on 2023/08/31 at 1630 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2216	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	½ - ½	GM	Ju, Wenjun	2592	6	PGN
2	7	2405	GM	Krush, Irina	1 - 0	GM	Koneru, Humpy	2473	5	PGN
3	8	2307	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	1 - 0	GM	Ushenina, Anna	2384	4	PGN
4	9	2358	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	1 - 0	WIM	Savitha, Shri B	2236	3	PGN
5	1	2459	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	½ - ½	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	2364	2	PGN
Round 3 on 2023/08/31 at 1800 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	2	2364	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	0 - 1	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	2216	10	PGN
2	3	2236	WIM	Savitha, Shri B	½ - ½	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2459	1	PGN
3	4	2384	GM	Ushenina, Anna	½ - ½	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2358	9	PGN
4	5	2473	GM	Koneru, Humpy	0 - 1	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2307	8	PGN
5	6	2592	GM	Ju, Wenjun	1 - 0	GM	Krush, Irina	2405	7	PGN

Details

Round 4-6 pairings

Round 4 on 2023/09/01 at 1500 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2216	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh		GM	Krush, Irina	2405	7
2	8	2307	IM	Vantika, Agrawal		GM	Ju, Wenjun	2592	6
3	9	2358	IM	Shuvalova, Polina		GM	Koneru, Humpy	2473	5
4	1	2459	GM	Dronavalli, Harika		GM	Ushenina, Anna	2384	4
5	2	2364	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino		WIM	Savitha, Shri B	2236	3
Round 5 on 2023/09/01 at 1630 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	3	2236	WIM	Savitha, Shri B		WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	2216	10
2	4	2384	GM	Ushenina, Anna		GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	2364	2
3	5	2473	GM	Koneru, Humpy		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2459	1
4	6	2592	GM	Ju, Wenjun		IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2358	9
5	7	2405	GM	Krush, Irina		IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2307	8
Round 6 on 2023/09/01 at 1800 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2216	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh		IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2307	8
2	9	2358	IM	Shuvalova, Polina		GM	Krush, Irina	2405	7
3	1	2459	GM	Dronavalli, Harika		GM	Ju, Wenjun	2592	6
4	2	2364	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino		GM	Koneru, Humpy	2473	5
5	3	2236	WIM	Savitha, Shri B		GM	Ushenina, Anna	2384	4

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	10	WGM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2216	2,5	0	0	3,50	2	2
2	8	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2307	2,5	0	0	2,00	2	1
3	6	GM	Ju, Wenjun	CHN	2592	2	0	0	3,00	1	0
4	2	GM	Batsiashvili, Nino	GEO	2364	1,5	0	0	2,00	1	0
5	9	IM	Shuvalova, Polina	FID	2358	1,5	0	0	1,50	1	0
6	7	GM	Krush, Irina	USA	2405	1,5	0	0	1,00	1	0
7	3	WIM	Savitha, Shri B	IND	2236	1	0	0	1,75	0	0
8	4	GM	Ushenina, Anna	UKR	2384	1	0	0	1,50	0	0
9	1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2459	1	0	0	1,25	0	0
10	5	GM	Koneru, Humpy	IND	2473	0,5	0	0	1,00	0	0

Details

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