Indian Oil 51st National Women 2025 R5: Shubhi Gupta and Mary Ann Gomes emerge coleaders
WFM Shubhi Gupta (UP) and WFM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) have emerged coleaders after Round 5 of Indian Oil 51st National Women Chess Championship 2025. Shubhi made the most out of her color break with the white pieces again. Facing King's Indian Defence for the second consecutive game, Shubhi did not make any significant mistake. Her opponent, WCM Akshaya Sathi (KAR), made an incorrect queen trade offer which cost her the game eventually. Mary Ann used her experience to halt WCM Divi Bijesh's (KER) dream run at the event. The defending champion, WGM Nandhidhaa P V (TN) won a 5 hour 15+ minute-long grueling minor piece endgame battle against IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB). Nandhidhaa, WFM Sneha Halder (WB) and WIM Kalyani Sirin (KER) are currently at 4.5/5. Round 6 starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed
Nivedita V C outplays Priyanka Nutakki
The biggest upset of the round is - WFM Nivedita V C (TN) winning against former National Junior Girls champion, WGM Priyanka Nutakki (AP). Sravyasree Bheemarasetty (AP) drew against the top seed, WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB). WIM Sakshi Chitlange (MAH) and WFM Yash Jyoti Bir (WB) drew against WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) and WGM Srija Seshadri (TN) respectively.
Shubhi - Akshaya: 1-0
The former National Junior Girls champion, WFM Shubhi Gupta (UP, 2259) faced another King's Indian Defence in her second consecutive game against the reigning Karnataka State Open champion, WCM Akshaya Sathi (KAR, 1956). Shubhi was aware of 5...Nc6 variation which her opponent opted. However, she mentioned in the post-game interview that she should not have played 11.e4 which weakened her pawn structure and realized it only afterward.
21...Qb7? turned out to be a significant mistake for Black. 22.Qxb7 Rxb7 23.Be3 now only White can push for a win. Shubhi felt that Black should have traded the bishops instead. 25...Bxd4 26.Rxd4 would have been fine for Black.
Mary Ann - Divi
12...d4 is fine. 13.exd4 now Nxd4 would have kept things in balance. 13...cxd4 14.Nb5 axb5 15.cxb5 Qd6 16.bxc6 Bxc6 17.Rxc6 Qxc6 18.Nxd4 White just gained a pawn. 18...Qd7 19.Bc6 Qd6 20.Bxa8 White regained the exchange Rxa8 21.a4 and it was just a matter of time before WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB, 2243) converted her advantage into a win against WCM Divi Bijesh (KER, 1921) halting her momentum.
Nandhidhaa - Nisha: 1-0
Earlier this year, WGM Nandhidhaa P V (TN, 2257) drew against IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB, 2144). This time the better part of the game was a minor piece endgame - double bishop vs bishop and knight endgame.
49.Bf4 h5? 50.Bb8 a5 51.Bc7? d3+! and we reach the above position. Despite an inaccuracy 49...h5? Black found a nice resource 51...d3+! 52.cxd3 has Ne6. So White played 52.Kd2 dxc2 53.Bxa5 Ne6 54.Bd7 Nd4 and Black is back.
Black's last window of opportunity was the counter intuitive 61...Bxf4 62.gxf4 Kf6 63.a4 Ke7 64.Kc1 Kd6 65.f5 Ke5 and thanks to the c2-pawn and well placed knight at d4 Black can survive. This was a computer line and definitely hard to find for humans, especially when the game ran for over five hours. Nevertheless, the endgame is very rich and should definitely make it to future books on endgame techniques, tactics and more.
Kalyani - Sharanya
32.f5 exf5 first 33.gxf5 Rxh3 34.Nxh3 Qf5 would have been fine for Black. The difference in order when Black played 32...Rxh3? 33.Nxh3 exf5 now 34.Nf4 is there Qd8 35.gxf5 Qh4+ 36.Qf2 Qxf2+ 37.Kxf2 White went on to convert her advantage smoothly.
Bristy - Sneha
26.Qb4?? is a mistake. Find out the beautiful continuation which WFM Sneha Halder (WB, 2160) found in the game against WFM Bristy Mukherjee (WB, 2008).
Nivedita - Priyanka
In an already difficult position, WGM Priyanka Nutakki (AP, 2292) misplayed 17...Rd8?? 18.Nd4+- Nxe5 19.Ng5/Qh5 probably would have ended things sooner. 19.Bf4 Nxf4 20.gxf4 Bxe4? did not help Black's case 21.Rxe4 and White won the game in ten more moves.
Tejaswini - Arshiya
WIM Tejaswini Sagar (GUJ, 1970) missed a great opportunity to get a decisive advantage after the newly crowned National Sub-Junior Girls champion, WFM Arshiya Das (TRI, 2232) blundered 21...b5?? The game continued 22.g5? Find out what White should have done instead.
For more Round 5 photos, please click here.
Replay Round 5 games
Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | White | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Rtg | No. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | WFM | Shubhi, Gupta | 2259 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WCM | Akshaya, Sathi | 1956 | 37 |
| 2 | 8 | WGM | Gomes, Mary Ann | 2243 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | WCM | Divi, Bijesh | 1921 | 42 |
| 3 | 6 | WGM | Nandhidhaa, P V | 2257 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | IM | Mohota, Nisha | 2144 | 16 |
| 4 | 12 | WFM | Kalyani, Sirin | 2182 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | AIM | Gade, Sharanya | 1950 | 38 |
| 5 | 25 | WFM | Bristy, Mukherjee | 2008 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | WFM | Sneha, Halder | 2160 | 15 |
| 6 | 27 | Sravyasree, Bheemarasetty | 2005 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee | 2301 | 1 | |
| 7 | 28 | WFM | Nivedita, V C | 2003 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WGM | Priyanka, Nutakki | 2292 | 3 |
| 8 | 35 | WIM | Tejaswini, Sagar | 1970 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WFM | Arshiya, Das | 2232 | 9 |
| 9 | 10 | WIM | Pandey, Srishti | 2219 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | WIM | Nimmy, A.G. | 1990 | 31 |
| 10 | 40 | WGM | Kiran, Manisha Mohanty | 1939 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | WIM | Chitlange, Sakshi | 2193 | 11 |
Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | WFM | Shubhi, Gupta | IND | 2259 | Uttar Pradesh | 5 | 14,5 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | 8 | WGM | Gomes, Mary Ann | IND | 2243 | Petroleum Sports Promotion Board | 5 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 6 | WGM | Nandhidhaa, P V | IND | 2257 | Tamil Nadu | 4,5 | 13,5 | 15,5 | 13,75 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 15 | WFM | Sneha, Halder | IND | 2160 | West Bengal | 4,5 | 12,5 | 15 | 13,75 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | 12 | WFM | Kalyani, Sirin | IND | 2182 | Kerala | 4,5 | 12,5 | 14,5 | 13,5 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 42 | WCM | Divi, Bijesh | IND | 1921 | Kerala | 4 | 15 | 17,5 | 12,5 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | 37 | WCM | Akshaya, Sathi | IND | 1956 | Karnataka | 4 | 14,5 | 15,5 | 10,5 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 22 | WCM | Modipalli, Deekshitha | IND | 2033 | Andhra Pradesh | 4 | 13 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | 28 | WFM | Nivedita, V C | IND | 2003 | Tamil Nadu | 4 | 12,5 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | 14 | WGM | Varshini, V | IND | 2170 | Tamil Nadu | 4 | 11,5 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
Round 6 pairings
| Bo. | No. | White | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Rtg | No. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | WGM | Gomes, Mary Ann | 2243 | 5 | 5 | WFM | Shubhi, Gupta | 2259 | 5 | |
| 2 | 15 | WFM | Sneha, Halder | 2160 | 4½ | 4½ | WGM | Nandhidhaa, P V | 2257 | 6 | |
| 3 | 10 | WIM | Pandey, Srishti | 2219 | 4 | 4½ | WFM | Kalyani, Sirin | 2182 | 12 | |
| 4 | 28 | WFM | Nivedita, V C | 2003 | 4 | 4 | WGM | Varshini, V | 2170 | 14 | |
| 5 | 37 | WCM | Akshaya, Sathi | 1956 | 4 | 4 | WFM | Sachi, Jain | 2080 | 18 | |
| 6 | 49 | Shivamshika, G | 1881 | 4 | 4 | WCM | Modipalli, Deekshitha | 2033 | 22 | ||
| 7 | 42 | WCM | Divi, Bijesh | 1921 | 4 | 4 | Ananya, Raman | 2005 | 26 | ||
| 8 | 1 | WIM | Arpita, Mukherjee | 2301 | 3½ | 3½ | Maitreyi, Mondal | 2001 | 29 | ||
| 9 | 2 | WIM | Velpula, Sarayu | 2296 | 3½ | 3½ | Sravyasree, Bheemarasetty | 2005 | 27 | ||
| 10 | 9 | WFM | Arshiya, Das | 2232 | 3½ | 3½ | WFM | Lasya.G, | 1999 | 30 |
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