The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Aarthie shocks Anupama

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 25, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Aarthie shocks Anupama

H.S. Manjunath

BANGALORE: Aarthie Ramaswamy came up with a spectacular rook sacrifice to leave Anupama Gokhale totally defenceless in the opening round of the 14-player National `A' Women's Chess Championship at the Goldfinch Hotel this evening.

Playing the black side of the Nimzo Indian defence, Aarthie's fluid piece play in the middle game culminated in a king side swoop that brooked no answer from Aupama.

Anupama's early bid was to get a strong hold on the queen side but once Aarathie managed to neutralise this wing, it was obvious that she had set her sights on a king side switch.

With enough preparation going into the offensive, Anupama could hardly foresee threats coming along an open file once a strong pawn push had considerably weakened the pawn structure in front of her castled king.

When Aarthie decisively brought the pressure to bear on that open file with a neat rook manoeuvre it was on the cards that her immensely mobile pieces would create a web of its own. The masterstroke came when she offered a "rook" accepting which led almost instantly to Anupama's downfall. The tactical sequence had been well thought out by Aarthie.

Pleasing show

Local girl Kruttika Nadig turned in a pleasing show on the black side of an open Grunfeld Defence. Up to a point in the middle game, Shivashankari and Kruttika more or less were equal. But then Kruttika, by virtue of placing her pieces strategically well, began to assert herself with her pair of bishops coming strongly into play. Apart from maintaining her positional advantage, Kruttika created panic in Shivashankari with an "a" passer. That was the clincher.

On the top board, Priya managed to eke out a draw against Bhagyashree Thipsay while the Mohota sisters, Nisha and Swathi expectedly played out a grandmaster draw.

The results (first round): P. Priya drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay, Anuprita Patil lost to Swathi Ghate, P. Shivashankari lost to Kruttika Nadig, Sangeetha M.R. lost to Raghavi, Mary Ann Gomes bt Nimmy George, Nisha Mohota drew with Swathi Mohota.

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