chessbase india logo

Arpita, Srishti, Akshaya and Priyanka are in a four-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/11/2019

Arpita Mukherjee, Srishti Pandey, Bommini Mounika Akshaya and Priyanka K are in a four-way lead with a score of 6.0/7 each at the conclusion of round 7 of 34th National Junior girls 2019. Arpita, Srishti and Priyanka K all three scored wins in both round 6 and 7, only Akshaya made a draw which was winning for her and then she won her next round. In the open section, Mitrabha maintained his sole lead with 6.5/7, after being held for a draw by Aaryan Varshney in round 6. Aaryan and top seed Koustav Chatterjee are closely following behind at 6.0/7 each. Action packed round 6 and 7 report contains annotated games and photos. Photo: IA Jitendra Choudhary

Mitrabha maintains sole lead

It was the last double round of this tournament. IM Mitrabha Guha (WB, 2443) faced FM Aaryan Varshney (DEL, 2236) in round 6. Mitrabha opted for Open Catalan but Aaryan played solid and did not give any opportunity. Eventually the game liquidated into a Queen and bishop vs Queen and knight endgame which ended up in a draw after queens got exchanged and draw became the obvious result.

Battle of the oranges turned out to be a hard-fought draw | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

In the afternoon, Mitrabha faced his state mate IM Srijit Paul. The tournament leader made short work of Srijit in just 30 moves where the theory lasted for almost half of the game in Caro-Kann Advance variation.

Unfortunately for Srijit he did not have the last laugh today | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Srijit - Mitrabha, round 7

Black just played 24...Kf7. How should white continue?

It is quite surprising that despite having a pair of bishop, Srijit did not opt to open up the position. He continued here with 25.Bc5 probably to support the b4 pawn when he should have gone with 25.b5 Ne7 and followed by 26.f5 break to maximize his double bishop's potential.

Find out how should white react to black's 28...e5

White has a couple of interesting choices here in the form of 29.a5 and 29.fxe5. However Srijit went with 29.f5 and locked the position.

Earlier in round 6, Srijit beat FM Nitish Belurkar in a 22-move miniature.

In the battle between two state mates, Rajdeep and Koustav, pieces got exchanged at regular interval and the game ended up in a draw in just 30 moves.

The face-off between two new IMs from West Bengal was a bit underwhelming | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

In the afternoon round, Koustav sacrificed a pawn to gain initiative eventually trapping his opponent Gaurav's queen in another eight moves.

Koustav made a short work of Gaurav in just 32 moves | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Kumar Gaurav of Bihar beat IM Anuj Shrivatri in round 6

Kumar Gaurav capitalized on Anuj's mistake and went on to win the game | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

In the afternoon, Gaurav made some questionable choice about his development of pieces for which he had to pay a heavy price.

Aaryan - Kumar Gaurav, round 7

What is the best way for black to complete its development?

Kumar Gaurav continued here with 15...Qf6 which is certainly not the right way as the minor pieces need to be developed first and connect the rooks to avoid any trouble.

Hemanth Raam had an opportunity to launch a devastating against IM Rajdeep Sarkar in round 7, however he completely missed it and took a step in the opposite direction.

A missed opportunity for Raam Hemanth | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Hemanth - Rajdeep, round 7

Black just played 28.h6 creating an opening for white. Find out white's best continuation here

In the girls section, top seed WIM Priyanka Nutakki did not have the best day, first she drew with her state mate Toshali V from an advantegous position.

Priyanka Nutakki has had better days | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Nutakki - Toshali, round 6

Toshali played 14...b5. What should be White's best reply?

Priyanka opted for the correct continuation and gained clear advantage but she did not make the right decision at a critical moment.

Queen exchange is inevitable. How should white go about it?

In the battle of Priyankas, Priyanka K came out at the top and she became one of the four leaders at the conclusion of round 7.

Priyanka K was better today | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Priyanka K - Priyanka N, round 7

White just played 21.Rf2, how should Black continue here?

Black continued here with 21...Rc5 ignoring the dark square weakness on the kingside. She should have done 21...Nc5 instead which temporarily prevents Ng5 ideas and future e6 threats too.

Second seeded WIM Arpita Mukherjee picked up two fine victories to join the leaders with 6.0/7. In the afternoon round, Arpita outplayed WIM Aakanksha Hagawane after the latter played too passively at the early middlegame.

Arpita - Aakanksha, round 8

Aankansha made an unforced error with 14...Nd7

Black should have continued with 14...Nxd5 instead and that would have been much more easier for black to play than the text.

Find out the cute finish for white

Srishti Pandey scored two consecutive victories without any difficulty by defeating Samriddhaa Ghosh and Vishwa Shah in round 6 and 7 respectively.

After scoring her maiden WIM-norm, Srishti is on a roll | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

After missing a win against Vishwa Shah, Bommini Mounika Akshaya made a marathon 85-move draw in round 6. In the following round, she defeated Toshali V to become one of the leaders.

Akshaya is one the leaders in the girls section | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Akshaya - Vishwa, round 6

White is absolutely winning here. Can you find the finish?

Akshaya regrettably missed the easy win and played 50.Bxd6 instead which equalized the position and diminished all chances for a quick win. The game went on for another 35 more moves before draw was agreed.

Toshali took a poisoned pawn in already inferior position and accelerated her positional demise.

Toshali - Akshaya, round 7

Should white take the pawn at g7?

Toshali took the pawn and things went downhill since then.

Round 7 results in Open

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
18IMSrijit Paul23170 - 1IMMitrabha Guha24432
21IMKoustav Chatterjee244951 - 05Gaurav Rajesh Zagade217319
336Hemanth Raam19925½ - ½5IMRajdeep Sarkar23624
415FMAaryan Varshney223651 - 05Kumar Gaurav203828
513FMJeet Jain2264½ - ½5Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi201732
629Mahindrakar Indrajeet20340 - 1Saurabh Anand227810
714Sibi Visal R2238½ - ½Dubey Sanchay188050
839Ayush Sharma19750 - 1Soham Kamotra218916
926Arjun Gupta20410 - 1Dere Pushkar187652
1031Grahesh Y20261 - 0Madhavan R Munjanattu170288
1155Sreekar J S S18500 - 1Akshit Kumar J201434
123FMAnuj Shrivatri237641 - 04Sparsh Khandelwal194640
135Harshavardhan G B23604½ - ½4Aditya Varun Gampa190844
147FMNitish Belurkar232541 - 04Rakshith Srinivasan188448
159FMSrihari L R228641 - 04Aadit Bhatia181462

Complete results

Round 7 results in Girls

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
12WIMArpita Mukherjee223451 - 0WIMAakanksha Hagawane22273
210Priyanka K206751 - 05WIMPriyanka Nutakki22721
36WFMPandey Srishti214051 - 05Shah Vishwa189219
411Toshali V205750 - 15WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya20879
520Meenal Gupta1879½ - ½WCMSharma Isha21397
68WFMSalonika Saina21001 - 0Poorna Sri M.K184822
729WCMChinnam Vyshnavi16890 - 1WFMBidhar Rutumbara194216
856Sai Mahati A14120 - 1WFMJain Nityata192717
918WFMTanishka Kotia19091 - 0WCMArushi Kotwal175625
104WFMMakhija Aashna219141 - 04Sinthia Sarkar160037
1133Sudipa Haldar165940 - 14WIMChitlange Sakshi21855
1212WFMSavitha Shri B200441 - 04Bharathakoti Sneha151445
1334Kiruthika B16454½ - ½4Bhagyashree Patil197013
1454Trisha B144540 - 14Ghosh Samriddhaa196415
1526AGMRenganayaki V175641 - 04Vakcheri Mohitha145153

Complete results

Round 8 pairings in Open

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
12IMMitrabha Guha24436IMKoustav Chatterjee24491
24IMRajdeep Sarkar23626FMAaryan Varshney223615
332Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi2017IMSrijit Paul23178
410Saurabh Anand2278Akshit Kumar J201434
516Soham Kamotra2189Hemanth Raam199236
652Dere Pushkar1876Grahesh Y202631
717CMBhavesh Mahajan218755FMAnuj Shrivatri23763
819Gaurav Rajesh Zagade217355FMNitish Belurkar23257
924Anadkat Kartavya206055FMSrihari L R22869
1028Kumar Gaurav203855FMWagh Suyog227311
1112Subhayan Kundu226955Aradhya Garg216520
1250Dubey Sanchay188055FMJeet Jain226413
1390Avinash Ramesh168655Sibi Visal R223814
1449Saypuri Srithan1881Harshavardhan G B23605
1555Sreekar J S S1850Anustoop Biswas215421

Complete pairings

Round 8 pairings in Girls

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
19WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya208766WIMArpita Mukherjee22342
210Priyanka K206766WFMPandey Srishti21406
33WIMAakanksha Hagawane2227WFMBidhar Rutumbara194216
417WFMJain Nityata1927WFMSalonika Saina21008
51WIMPriyanka Nutakki22725WFMTanishka Kotia190918
615Ghosh Samriddhaa196455WFMMakhija Aashna21914
75WIMChitlange Sakshi218555Toshali V205711
87WCMSharma Isha213955WFMSavitha Shri B200412
919Shah Vishwa189255Meenal Gupta187920
1026AGMRenganayaki V17565Ishvi Aggarwal185421
1113Bhagyashree Patil1970Rathi Dhanashree168830
1232Senthamizh Yazhini S1678WFMPotluri Supreetha196814
1322Poorna Sri M.K1848Kiruthika B164534
1440Rebecca Jesumarian1568Nanditha V182824
1525WCMArushi Kotwal1756Anjitha Krishnakumar138460

Complete pairings