Women's Premier R01-03: Swati and Soumya lead

by Sagar Shah - 16/11/2015

After three rounds at the National Women's Premier 2015, two girls from Pune, Swati Ghate and Soumya Swaminathan are in the lead with a score of 2.5/3. Behind them is Pratyusha Bodda who just beat the top seeded Padmini Rout. A lot of interesting games were played in the event - not to be missed is Padmini's Tal like play against Bhakti Kulkarni.

Three rounds have been completed at the 42nd Ramratna Women National Premier 2015 being held at the Bengal Gallery, Kolkata, from the 12th-24th of November 2015. This is one of the most important women events in the country and some of the strongest players are participating here.

This is how things stand at the end of three rounds. Swati Ghate and Soumya Swaminathan lead with a score of 2.5/3 and are followed by Pratyusha Bodda who is on 2.0/3.

Individual performances and results on chess-results website

Round one

The biggest highlight of round was definitely the first move choice of R.Vaishali against the top seeded Padmini Rout.

The Under-14 Girl's World Champion is known for her off beat play but playing 1.e3 in the first round against a top seed requires a lot of courage. As it happened the game was interesting with Vaishali having the edge but Padmini neutralized that by constant exchanges. The game ended in a draw.

[Event "RAMRATNA 42ND NATIONAL PREMIER WOMEN CHE"]
[Site "Bengal Gallery, RTI - ICCR : M"]
[Date "2015.11.13"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Vaishali, R."]
[Black "Padmini, Rout"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2298"]
[BlackElo "2437"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. e3 d5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. b3 Bg7 6. Bb2 O-O 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Nc5 10. Rc1 Ne4 11. Na4 Bxb2 12. Nxb2 f6 13. b4 Be6 14. a3 a5 15.
b5 cxb5 16. Nd4 Bf7 17. Nxb5 Nb6 18. d4 Nd6 19. Na4 Nbc4 20. Nc5 b6 21. Nb7 Qd7
22. N7xd6 Nxd6 23. Rc7 Qd8 24. Qc2 Rc8 25. Rc1 Rxc7 26. Qxc7 Qxc7 27. Rxc7 Rc8
28. Rxc8+ Nxc8 29. e4 Nd6 30. f3 Nxb5 31. Bxb5 Kf8 32. Kf2 e5 33. Ke3 Ke7 34.
f4 Kd6 35. g3 g5 36. fxg5 fxg5 37. h4 h6 38. Kd3 Be6 39. Ke3 Bg4 40. hxg5 hxg5
41. Ba4 Bh3 42. Bb5 Bc8 43. Kd3 Bg4 44. Ke3 Bh3 45. Kf3 Be6 46. Ke3 Bh3 47. Kf3
Be6 48. Ke3 Bh3 1/2-1/2

Vaishali has been touted as the next big thing to emerge from Indian chess (Picture by Reint Dykema)

Round two

The round of the day was definitely Padmini's game against Bhakti Kulkarni. It seemed as if Padmini was in the mood to play in the style of Mikhail Tal. She sacrificed pieces left, right and center and created what we call a modern day master piece.

White (Padmini) to play. The knight on g5 is ready to give his life for his camp. Where to sacrifice him?

I am sure Padmini did not think much before using her excellent intuition to understand that after 9.Nxf7! Kxf7 10.Ng5+ Kg8 11.Nxe6 she will have two pawns for the piece and an excellent attack. She went for the sacrifice and after 15 moves another critical position was reached in the game.

White has the initiative but how do you continue the attack?

Padmini found the brilliant 16.Bh6!! and after that it was all downhill for Bhakti. Play through this entire game on our Java script replay board below.

[Event "RamRatna 42nd National Women Premier Che"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2015.11.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Padmini, Rout"]
[Black "Kulkarni, Bhakti"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2257"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8.
Neg5 Be7 9. Nxf7 Kxf7 10. Ng5+ Kg8 11. Nxe6 Qc8 12. Re1 Bd6 13. Bc4 b5 14. Bb3
Bd5 15. Bxd5 Nxd5 16. Bh6 g6 17. Qf3 N7f6 18. Bg7 Kf7 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Qb3 Rf8
21. Nxc7+ Kg7 22. Ne6+ Kh8 23. Nxf8 Qxf8 24. Qf3 Rc8 25. c3 Rc7 26. Re6 Rf7 27.
Rae1 Kg7 28. Qc6 Bb8 29. g3 b4 30. Qb5 bxc3 31. bxc3 Qd8 32. h3 Bc7 33. Qe2 Bd6
34. c4 Bb4 35. Rd1 Rd7 36. d5 Bc5 37. Rd3 Qb8 38. Rf3 Rf7 39. Kg2 Bd6 40. Qe3
Nd7 41. h4 Rxf3 42. Qxf3 Bf8 43. h5 Qb1 44. Rc6 Qb8 45. hxg6 hxg6 46. d6 Qe8
47. c5 Ne5 48. Rc7+ Kh8 49. Qe4 1-0

India number three Padmini Rout created a true masterpiece in the second round of the tournament (Picture by Amruta Mokal)

Another important game of the second round was Swati Ghate's victory over Tania Sachdev. Swati played a very consistent game and showed some nice endgame skills to beat the second seed in the tournament.

[Event "RamRatna 42nd National Women Premier Che"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2015.11.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Swati, Ghate"]
[Black "Tania, Sachdev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2230"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. Nbd2 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8.
Ne4 Be7 9. O-O Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Re1 Nb6 12. Bb5 Bd6 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. d4 Bxf3
15. Qxf3 exd4 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Qxc6 Rc8 18. Qf3 dxc3 19. bxc3 Nc4 20. Bf4 Qf6
21. Rad1 Rfd8 22. Rd4 h6 23. Qb7 Na5 24. Qa6 Nc6 25. Rxd6 Qxf4 26. Rxc6 Qd2 27.
Rxc8 Qxe1+ 28. Kh2 Qe5+ 29. g3 Rxc8 30. Qxc8+ Kh7 31. Qd7 a5 32. Qd3+ f5 33. c4
Kh8 34. Kg2 a4 35. Qd5 Qe2 36. c5 Qc2 37. c6 Kh7 38. g4 g6 39. Qf7+ Kh8 40.
Qe8+ Kh7 41. Qe7+ Kh8 42. c7 Qc6+ 43. Kg3 Qc3+ 44. f3 Qc1 45. gxf5 Qg1+ 46. Kf4
Qd4+ 47. Qe4 Qd2+ 48. Ke5 1-0

Swati's mean look is bad news for her opponents! (Picture by Amruta Mokal)

Round three

Two important games in the third round were Soumya's clinical victory over Vaishali and Padmini's huge blunder against Pratyusha.

In an Anti-Grunfeld, Soumya played a fine game to beat R.Vaishali. Little by little, the 2008 World Junior Girls Champion, improved her position and before her opponent could even have known she had lost the a4 pawn in the endgame. The rest was not too difficult for Soumya.

[Event "RAMRATNA 42ND NATIONAL PREMIER WOMEN CHE"]
[Site "Bengal Gallery, RTI - ICCR : M"]
[Date "2015.11.15"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Vaishali, R."]
[Black "Soumya, Swaminathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2298"]
[BlackElo "2341"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. e4 Nxc3 5. bxc3 e5 6. Bc4 Bd6 7. Qh5 Qf6 8.
Nf3 Be6 9. Bxe6 Qxe6 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Nd7 12. d4 Rae8 13. d5 Qg6 14. Qh3 Nf6
15. Nh4 Qg4 16. Qxg4 Nxg4 17. Nf5 Bc5 18. Re2 Nf6 19. a4 a5 20. Kf1 g6 21. Ng3
Kg7 22. Rb1 b6 23. Ke1 Nd7 24. Nf1 Bd6 25. Be3 f5 26. exf5 gxf5 27. f3 f4 28.
Bf2 Nf6 29. Rb5 e4 30. Bd4 Be5 31. Bxe5 Rxe5 32. c4 Rfe8 33. Rbb2 exf3 34. gxf3
Nd7 35. Kf2 Rxe2+ 36. Rxe2 Rxe2+ 37. Kxe2 Nc5 38. Kd2 Kf6 39. Kc3 Ke5 40. Nd2
Nxa4+ 41. Kb3 Nc5+ 42. Kc3 h6 43. Nb1 b5 44. cxb5 Kxd5 45. Nd2 Ne6 46. Nc4 Nd4
47. b6 cxb6 48. Nxb6+ Kc6 49. Nc4 Nxf3 50. Nxa5+ Kd5 51. Kd3 Nxh2 52. Nb3 Nf3
53. Nc1 Ne5+ 54. Ke2 Ke4 55. Na2 f3+ 56. Kf1 Ng4 57. Kg1 Kf4 58. Nc3 h5 59. Kh1
h4 60. Kg1 f2+ 61. Kg2 h3+ 62. Kf1 Kf3 0-1

Soumya beat Vaishali in the Challenger's event and once again at the Premier (Picture by Amruta Mokal)

1. d4 Nc6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 4. e4 Ng6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. g3 d6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. Na4
Bb4+ 9. Bd2 a5 10. Ne2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 O-O 12. O-O b6 13. b3 Nd7 14. Nec3 Nc5
15. Nb2 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Nbd1 Qd7 18. Ne3 Bd3 19. Rfe1 e4 20. Nc2 Ne5 21.
Nd4 Qg4 22. h3 Qg6 23. Re3 Rf6 24. Ne6 Nxe6 25. dxe6 Nf3+ $4 26. Bxf3 Rxf3 27.
Rxf3 exf3 28. Nd5 Re8 29. Re1 Be2 30. Nxc7 Rxe6 31. Qd5 Kf7 32. Rc1 Qh6 33.
Qxe6+ Qxe6 34. Nxe6 Kxe6 35. Rc3 Ke5 36. Re3+ Kd4 37. Re6 Kc5 38. Re7 a4 39.
Rxg7 Bd3 40. Rc7+ Kb4 41. Rb7 a3 42. Rxb6+ Kc3 43. Rxd6 Bb1 44. c5 Bxa2 45. c6
Bb1 46. c7 Bf5 47. Rc6+ Kxb3 48. c8=Q 1-0

Pratyusha capitalized on a huge blunder by Padmini to move into sole second position in the event (picture by Maria Emelianova)

[Event "RAMRATNA 42ND NATIONAL PREMIER WOMEN CHE"]
[Site "Bengal Gallery, RTI - ICCR : M"]
[Date "2015.11.15"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Pratyusha, Bodda"]
[Black "Padmini, Rout"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2248"]
[BlackElo "2437"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]

1. d4 Nc6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 4. e4 Ng6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. g3 d6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. Na4
Bb4+ 9. Bd2 a5 10. Ne2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 O-O 12. O-O b6 13. b3 Nd7 14. Nec3 Nc5
15. Nb2 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Nbd1 Qd7 18. Ne3 Bd3 19. Rfe1 e4 20. Nc2 Ne5 21.
Nd4 Qg4 22. h3 Qg6 23. Re3 Rf6 24. Ne6 Nxe6 25. dxe6 Nf3+ $4 26. Bxf3 Rxf3 27.
Rxf3 exf3 28. Nd5 Re8 29. Re1 Be2 30. Nxc7 Rxe6 31. Qd5 Kf7 32. Rc1 Qh6 33.
Qxe6+ Qxe6 34. Nxe6 Kxe6 35. Rc3 Ke5 36. Re3+ Kd4 37. Re6 Kc5 38. Re7 a4 39.
Rxg7 Bd3 40. Rc7+ Kb4 41. Rb7 a3 42. Rxb6+ Kc3 43. Rxd6 Bb1 44. c5 Bxa2 45. c6
Bb1 46. c7 Bf5 47. Rc6+ Kxb3 48. c8=Q 1-0

The two girls from Pune have taken the early lead in the tournament. With eight more rounds to go anyone can make a comeback!

You can watch live games for this event over here.