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Kruttika back in sole lead

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI: Kruttika Nadig asserted her strength with black pieces yet again as she bounced back into sole lead with 7.5 points after the 10th round of the Parsvnath 35th National ‘A’ women’s chess championship at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture here on Saturday.

With the other overnight joint leader, Tania Sachdev splitting a point with former champion Nisha Mohota in a 76-move tussle, the 20-year-old Kruttika, who has already ensured herself of a WGM norm, emerged the sole leader yet again as she scored a victory over Soumya Swaminathan when the latter ran out of time.

The Economics student from Pune, Kruttika was defending well and aligning her forces for the coup de grace when Soumya’s 30th move, with the rook, was a fraction of a second late. As she placed the piece, Soumya found her clock showing zero seconds before she could bang it.

Quite interestingly, in her gripping battle against Nisha, Tania banged the clock at one stage when it had just one second left! It was a draw eventually, but it was that close, when Tania pulled the bishop to bottom row before stopping the clock, just in time.

“I tried a new variation in Sicilian defence. She made some mistakes in the opening, and I was a pawn up. It was a complicated position, but after a stage I knew that I wouldn’t lose. I was two pawns up and with a better position when it ended the way it did,” said Kruttika, quite relieved to get back her winning touch after the defeat to Tania the previous day.

“I am strong with white also. I think, yesterday (on Friday) I overstretched, when it was a drawn situation,” said Kruttika, who opted to be less flamboyant and more conservative with her moves against Soumya. Incidentally, it was her fifth victory with black, out of seven wins.

“There were many variations, but I opted to play simple and sound moves,” said Kruttika, as she stressed that she was pleased to have at least assured herself of the second position.

With Tania breathing down her neck, half-a-point behind, with seven points, Kruttika will need a victory on Sunday against WGM Eesha Karavade, who has 5.5 points following a 69-move triumph over the World under-14 champion Padmini Rout, to avoid any further calculation.

Tania will keep the title if the two tie, as the first rule of the tie-break is the result of the game between the two tied players.

Fluctuating fortunes

In a game of fluctuating fortunes, Nisha fought back to regain the exchange, and equalised the position to force the draw against Tania.

Bhakti Kulkarni added another point to take her tally to five points, as she overwhelmed Pon N. Krithika, in a 49-move game.

Swati Ghate, Soumya and Nisha were the others to reach five points.

With 4.5 points against her name following a smooth win over Amurtha Mokal, the Asian junior champion Mary Ann Gomes will have the onerous task of providing a meaningful challenge in the climax for Tania who is attempting to perform a hat-trick of titles in the championship.

The results (10th round): Amrutha Mokal 4 lost to Mary Ann Gomes 4.5; Tania Sachdev 7 drew with Nisha Mohota 5; Soumya Swaminathan 5 lost to Kruttika Nadig 7.5; Eesha Karavade 5.5 bt Padmini Rout 3.5; Kiran Manisha Mohanty 3.5 drew with Swati Ghate 5; Pon N. Krithika 4 lost to Bhakti Kulkarni 5.

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

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