The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Nisha makes a significant move

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 05, 2005

Sport

Sport - Chess

Nisha makes a significant move

H.S. Manjunath

BANGALORE: Nisha Mohota made a significant move forward in the dash for the title with a vital victory even as her nearest rival Mary-Ann Gomes conceded half a point in the 11th round of the National Women's `A' chess championship here on Wednesday.

Nisha has emerged as the sole leader with eight points, half a point ahead of Mary-Ann and Anupama Gokhale, who forced herself into the top bracket with a tidy win. Aarthie R is not far away from the leading group. She produced another merited win to stay in the hunt at seven points.

M.R. Sangeetha chose the Nimzo Indian defence against Nisha who lost no time in turning her vast theoretical knowledge of the opening into a clear developmental advantage. By the time the game meandered into the middle game, Nisha had grabbed the initiative to the point of pushing Sangeetha into a state of passivity. Some vigorous piece play by Nisha created a passer on the D file and around this assailing set up Sangeetha's defences inevitably crumbled.

Thrilling climax

Mary-Ann's choice of a rarely-played opening like Reti was perhaps meant to be an element of surprise but an experienced Bhagyashree Thipsay had no qualms dealing with it. Neither Mary-Ann nor Bhagyashree could churn out anything extra from what was a middle game of many nuances. For every Mary-Ann thrust Bhagyashree was ready with a parry and the high-intensity game reached a thrilling climax when Bhagyashree allowed Mary Ann to queen a pawn but her own passed pawn which had only one rook as a back up defiantly stood its ground to ensure a draw.

Aarthie's pawn thrust

Aarthie came out marginally better from the black side when her game against Swati Ghate went along the Rosslimo line in the Sicilian. Half way through the game, Swati apparently underestimated the power of a pawn thrust that brought about in its wake several attacking possibilities for Aarthie. Having castled long, this Aarthie pawn on the sixth rank was a thorn in the flesh for Swati who in her anxiety to defend left many pawns and pieces dangling. With Aarthie's heavy pieces making inroads, Swati ended up losing a piece for no return.

The penultimate round tomorrow pits Nisha against Mary-Ann while Anupama takes on Kruttika Nadig. Bhagyashree Thipsay is up against Aarthie.

The results (11th round): Mary-Ann Gomes (7.5) drew with Bhagyashree Thipsay (6), Nisha Mohota (8) bt M.R. Sangeetha (4.5), Swati Mohota (6) bt P. Shivashankari (2.5), Nimmy A. George (5) bt Anuprita Patil (4), Raghavi (3.5) lost to Anupama Gokhale (7.5), Kruttika Nadig (4) drew with Priya (5.5), Swati Ghate (6) lost to Aarthie R (7).

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