The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Tania back to sharing the lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 27, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Chess

Tania back to sharing the lead

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI: Tania Sachdev stung in the end game and pulled on par with Kruttika Nadig, handing out a 93-move defeat to the overnight leader in the ninth round of the Parsvnath 35th National ‘A’ chess championship at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture here on Friday.

In a high quality game that was intensely fought for four hours and 30 minutes, it was the tw-time champion Tania’s resilience that came to the fore.

Even battle

It was an even battle and clearly on course for a draw, when an ambitious Kruttika lost focus. Her attempt to conjure something special proved counter-productive.

Having won four of her games with black pieces, it was perhaps beyond the attacking style of Kruttika to play for a draw with white.

After her unusual tryst with the French Defence did not yield much advantage, Tania handled her resources with accuracy, forcing Kruttika to her wit’s end.

With time running out on her clock, Kruttika tended to play too much in her mind, rather than keep it simple, which would have been the normal course for someone enjoying a one-point lead against the defending champion.

Hence it transpired that the Economics student from Pune played into Tania’s hands.

The 22-year-old Tania guided her extra pawn nicely in a rook ending, and Kruttika was left with no option but to extend her hand in congratulation.

“It was a tough game. Both of us played pretty well. She got into a good position, but made mistakes in the end,” said Tania.

“I had to try something. A draw or a loss was the same for me. It should have been a draw, but I am happy to be back in the lead. It is really important to play a good match tomorrow,” said Tania, reminding herself of the unfinished work, as she would be meeting WGM Nisha Mohota in the penultimate round.

Kruttika was quite upset about messing it up and walked out of the hall in a hurry, possibly to prepare in earnest for the last two rounds against Soumya Swaminathan and Eesha Karavade.

Soumya beats Padmini

Soumya pulled herself up with a 56-move victory over the world under-14 champion, Padmini Rout. With the advantage of two pieces, Soumya handled the finish nicely and was ready to check-mate Padmini, when the latter gave up.

Soumya has taken her tally to five points and Padmini to 3.5.

Former champion Swati Ghate resurrected her fortunes with a smart finish against Eesha Karavade, as she sacrificed both her rooks to wreak havoc in the black ranks.

Swati’s 33-move victory took her tally to 4.5 points.

Bhakti Kulkarni agreed to an 11-move draw with Kiran Manisha Mohanty to take her collection to four points that fetched her a Woman International Master (WIM) norm.

It was the second WIM norm for the Goan student who had missed getting the WIM title itself by half a point while winning the bronze in the Asian junior championship recently.

“My coach (Raghunandan Gokhale) is not here. Otherwise, I could have even won a WGM norm,” said Bhakti.

Amrutha Mokal and Pon N. Krithika drew after 93 moves and both achieved the WIM norm.

The results (ninth round): Pon N. Krithika 4 drew with Amrutha Mokal 4; Bhakti Kulkarni 4 drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty 3; Swati Ghate 4.5 bt Eesha Karavade 4.5; Padmini Rout 3.5 lost to Soumya Swaminathan 5; Kruttika Nadig 6.5 lost to Tania Sachdev 6.5; Nisha Mohota 4.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes 3.5.

Tenth round pairings: Amrutha-Mary; Tania-Nisha; Soumya-Kruttika; Eesha-Padmini; Kiran-Swati; Krithika-Bhakti.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport