Asian Individual 2025 R6: Srija Seshadri outwits Anastasia Bodnaruk, gains sole lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/05/2025

WGM Srija Seshadri defeated IM Anastasia Bodnaruk in Round 6 to emerge sole leader at Asian Individual Women 2025. Srija made a thematic bishop sacrifice on e6 to get three pawns and a vulnerable king. However, the World Rapid Women 2023 champion, IM Anastasia Bodnaruk got back in the game and kept fighting until she blundered her rook in the final moments. Srija is at 5.5/6. She is closely followed by WCM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul (MGL), IM Vantika Agrawal and WGM Nandhidhaa P V at 5/6 each. It will be Vantika vs Srija and Nandhidhaa vs Mungunzul in Round 6 which starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Himank Ghosh

Men: Harshavardhan, Karthikeyan and Pranesh trail by a full point

GM Karthikeyan Murali suffered a loss against GM Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI) after the former went wrong in a difficult rook and few pawns endgame. GM Pranesh M drew with GM Sergei Lobanov. IM Harshavardhan G B defeated the reigning National champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman.

WGM Srija Seshadri has emerged sole leader 5.5/6

Srija - Bodnaruk: 1-0

WGM Srija Seshadri (2226) made a thematic bishop sacrifice on e6 in Sicilian Najdorf against World Rapid Women 2023 champion, IM Anastasia Bodnaruk (2332).

Position after 10.Bxe6

10...fxe6 11.Nxe6 Qd7 12.Nxg7+ Kf7 13.Nf5 Qe6 14.f3 White not only has three pawns for the sacrificed bishop but also a vulnerable black king at f7.

Position after 27.Ne5+!

26...Rd8? allowed White to go for a nice tactic 27.Ne5+! Qxe5 28.Nh6+ Rxh6 29.Qxe5 and the game eventually liquidated into a queen vs rook and double bishop endgame. It was certainly not an easy endgame for either player. Eventually, Black blundered her rook and Srija won the game.

IM Vantika Agrawal outplayed WIM Afruza Khamdamova (UZB)

Nandhidhaa - Gulrukhbegim

Position after 23...Qe7?

23...Qe7? drops the crucial a5-pawn. Of course, White cannot take it immediately. So WGM Nandhidhaa P V (2363) first dealt with the rook 24.Rxe6 fxe6 25.Bd2 Nf7 26.Bxa5 White went on to win the game using the passed pawn on a-file.

WGM Nandhidhaa P V defeated IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (UZB) to move to 5/6

WGM Swati Ghate scored a fine victory over WGM Mobina Alinasab (IRI)

WGM Mary Ann Gomes - WFM Arshiya Das (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Men: Bardiya - Karthikeyan: 1-0

Position after 24...Rad8

Things started falling apart for GM Karthikeyan Murai (2658) starting with 24...Rad8 25.Rc7 Rxe1 26.Kxe1 Bd5 27.Bxd5 Rxd5 the resultant rook is not easy to play with the black pieces. It is much more comfortable for GM Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI, 2621) after 28.Rxa7 Rb5 29.Rd7 Rc5 30.Rd3 Rc4 31.Kd1 Ra4? 34. Rd2 Kg7 35.Rb2 g4 36.fxg4 Rxg4 37.g3 Ra4 38.Kc2 Kf7 39.Kb3 Re4 40.Ka3 and it became just a matter of time before White won this.

GM Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI) emerged sole leader 5.5/6

GM Sergei Lobanov - GM Pranesh M: 0.5-0.5

IM Harshavardhan G B outplayed the reigning National Champion - GM Karthik Venkataraman

GM Aleksey Grebnev - IM Srihari L R (pictured): 0.5-0.5

IM Ilamparthi A R (pictured) - GM Pouya Idani (IRI): 1-0

For more Round 6 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 6 Open games

Replay Round 6 Women games

Round 6 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
6	1	12	GM	Daneshvar Bardiya	2621	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2658	4
6	2	36	GM	Lobanov Sergei	2527	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Pranesh M	2576	18
6	8	9	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2630	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid	2491	43
6	9	30	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2551	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2624	10
6	11	19	GM	Iniyan Pa	2573	3½	½ - ½	3½		Huang Renjie	2491	44
6	13	72	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2441	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2565	22
6	14	27	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2556	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Srihari L R	2468	59
6	15	28	GM	Pranav Anand	2555	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Zverev Lev	2471	57
6	16	71		Meng Yihan	2443	3½	0 - 1	3	GM	Nihal Sarin	2693	1
6	18	58	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2469	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Idani Pouya	2630	8

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	12	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2621	5,5	2571	20	23
2	23	GM	Zemlyanskii, Ivan	FID	2563	5	2458	17	19,5
3	72	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2441	4,5	2567	19	19,5
4	115	FM	Yang, Zilong	CHN	2326	4,5	2557	18,5	21
5	4	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2658	4,5	2547	21	23,5
6	5	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2641	4,5	2536	21	24
7	36	GM	Lobanov, Sergei	FID	2527	4,5	2498	18	20,5
8	18	GM	Pranesh, M	IND	2576	4,5	2438	20,5	23,5
9	58	IM	Ilamparthi, A R	IND	2469	4	2613	19	21
10	59	IM	Srihari, L R	IND	2468	4	2588	19	19,5

Details

Round 7 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
7	2	4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2658	4½	4½	GM	Lobanov Sergei	2527	36
7	4	18	GM	Pranesh M	2576	4½	4½	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2441	72
7	5	1	GM	Nihal Sarin	2693	4	4	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	2551	30
7	6	2	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	2670	4	4	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2545	33
7	9	38	GM	Madaminov Mukhiddin	2520	4	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2630	9
7	10	10	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2624	4	4	GM	Movahed Sina	2518	40
7	11	41	IM	Aswath S	2515	4	4	GM	Xu Xiangyu	2623	11
7	12	43	IM	Suyarov Mukhammadzokhid	2491	4	4	GM	Narayanan S L	2598	15
7	14	57	IM	Zverev Lev	2471	4	4	GM	Iniyan Pa	2573	19
7	15	20	GM	Bai Jinshi	2572	4	4	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2469	58

Details

Round 6 Women results

6	1	38	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2226	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Bodnaruk Anastasia	2332	17
6	4	7	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2377	4	1 - 0	4	WIM	Khamdamova Afruza	2344	14
6	5	9	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2363	4	1 - 0	4	IM	Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim	2369	8
6	9	15	WGM	Alinasab Mobina	2342	3½	0 - 1	3½	WGM	Swati Ghate	2035	69
6	12	11	IM	Padmini Rout	2359	3	1 - 0	3	WFM	Nurgaliyeva Zarina	2235	37
6	15	19	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2324	3	½ - ½	3	WFM	Mohammadi Melika	2205	42
6	16	82		Zhou Shumeng	1901	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Savitha Shri B	2298	24
6	18	30	WFM	Yakimova Mariya	2260	3	1 - 0	3		Ananya Raman	1904	81
6	19	31	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2258	3	½ - ½	3	WFM	Arshiya Das	2174	46
6	20	33	WFM	Kaliakhmet Elnaz	2258	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Mohota Nisha	2161	48

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	38	WGM	Srija, Seshadri	IND	2226	5,5	2351	21	22,5
2	22	WCM	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	MGL	2302	5	2288	20,5	23,5
3	7	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2377	5	2275	18,5	21
4	9	WGM	Nandhidhaa, P V	IND	2363	5	2227	16	18
5	4	IM	Song, Yuxin	CHN	2397	4,5	2302	19	21,5
6	2	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2425	4,5	2295	18,5	21
7	69	WGM	Swati, Ghate	IND	2035	4,5	2294	17,5	19
8	17	IM	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	FID	2332	4,5	2283	21,5	24
9	3	GM	Girya, Olga	FID	2400	4,5	2260	18,5	20,5
10	21	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2311	4,5	2256	17	19

Details

Round 7 pairings

7	1	7	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2377	5	5½	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2226	38
7	2	9	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2363	5	5	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	2302	22
7	6	69	WGM	Swati Ghate	2035	4½	4	IM	Pham Le Thao Nguyen	2388	5
7	8	47	WFM	Mikheeva Galina	2162	4	4	IM	Padmini Rout	2359	11
7	11	24	IM	Savitha Shri B	2298	4	4	WGM	Rouda Essa Alserkal	2147	50
7	17	56	WFM	Azali Tannaz	2118	3½	3½	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2324	19
7	18	42	WFM	Mohammadi Melika	2205	3½	3½	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	2277	25
7	19	46	WFM	Arshiya Das	2174	3½	3½	WIM	Karimova Guldona	2265	27
7	21	73	WCM	Salimova Asal	2003	3½	3½	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2258	31
7	24	48	IM	Mohota Nisha	2161	3	3	WIM	Kairbekova Amina	2344	13

Details

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