The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Soumya goes into the lead

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Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Soumya goes into the lead

Sangli: Top seed Soumya Swaminathan of Maharashtra took sole possession of the lead in the 32nd National women's `B' chess tournament when she overcame overnight leader Supriya Maji after a marathon struggle in the eighth round clash here on Tuesday.

Pune-based Soumya, playing with black pieces, outsmarted Supriya in 76 moves to take her points tally to 6.5.

In the tie between Supriya and Soumya on the top board, the former opened with king's pawn to which the top seed replied with Sicilian Najdorf variation (English attack). In the opening Soumya had an edge, but under time pressure she lost a pawn.

Towards the end Supriya had a clear advantage over her opponent, but lost her upper hand by committing a costly error on the 62nd move that gave Soumya an extra rook which she utilised to good advantage and won the long-drawn-out tie.

Important results (eighth round): Supriya Maji (6) lost to Soumya Swaminathan (6.5); Swati Mohota (6) bt Amruta Mokal (5.5); J.E. Kavitha (5) lost to I. Ramya Krishna (6); M.R. Sangeetha (5.5) drew with L. Iswarya Shobhana (5.5); Alka Das (6) bt Kiran Mohanty (4.5); S. Nabila Farheen (5.5) bt S. Sujatha (4.5); N. Pragna Patavi (5) drew with Baisakhi Das (5); Pushpalata Mangal (4.5) lost to H. Sowmya (5.5); Macrina Lobo (4) lost to P. Sivasankari (5); Delphin C. (5) bt K. Sruthi (4); Priyanka Kumari (4.5) drew with Bhakti Kulkarni (4.5); Payal Guha (4) lost to Mahima Rajmohan (5); Pallabi Roy (4) lost to P. Uthara (5). — PTI

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