The Hindu : Sport : Harika and Eesha share lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 08, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Harika and Eesha share lead

Rakesh Rao

Going gets tough for former champs

PUNE: The depth of the highly competitive field in the women’s 34th National ‘A’ chess championship surfaced in the second round itself when defending champion Tania Sachdev and three other former champions had to remain content with draws against much lesser-rated players at the SIMS Complex here on Wednesday.

After four of the top six boards ended as draws, top seed D. Harika and Eesha Karavade stayed in the lead with two points each.

Harika battled for 78 moves in rook-and-pawn ending to overpower Padmini Rout and Eesha won the battle of locals against a two-time National junior girls champion Soumya Swaminathan in 30 moves.

Tania, whose chess playing abilities have gained more admirers after she won the title last December and claimed the Asian crown in September, had to stave off Nimmy George’s aggressive plan.

Encouraging result

Later, running short of time, the third-seeded Delhi girl chose to force a draw in 43 moves following perpetual checks. This was a highly encouraging result for the Kerala girl whose rating is 217 points less than Tania’s 2413.

Second seed Nisha Mohota, Aarthie Ramaswamy and Swati Ghate — all former National champions — also failed to post victories against far lesser rated rivals.

Nisha was clearly better after the opening phase against the reigning National ‘B’ champion Kiran Manisha Mohanty but mishandled the position and drew in 28 moves.

Aarthie had to sign peace with Tamil Nadu statemate Pon N. Krithika in 30 moves. It is to the credit of young Krithika that she was not overawed by the reputation of her illustrious rival.

Swati Ghate ran into a highly experienced Sai Meera and agreed for a draw in 30 moves.

Asian girls champion and two-time National runner-up Mary Ann Gomes put behind the surprise first-round draw and defeated local challenger Amruta Mokal in 67 moves to join eight other players on 1.5 points.

Amruta, whose stunning victory over six-time champion S. Vijayalakshmi in the final round of the last edition remains one of the biggest upsets in the history of the championship, holds two Woman International Master norms and is considered a threat to all the serious title-contenders here.

The results (second round): Padmini Rout (1) lost to D. Harika (2); Nisha Mohota (1.5) drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (1.5); Nimmy George (1.5) drew with Tania Sachdev 1.5); Eesha Karavade (2) bt Soumya Swaminathan (1); Pon N. Krithika (1.5) drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (1.5); Swati Ghate (1.5) drew with Sai Meera (1.5); Mary Ann Gomes (1.5) bt Amruta Mokal (1); P. Priya (0.5) drew with Anuprita Patil (1); S. Harini (1) bt P. Uthra (0); Ch. Divyasri (0.5) drew with Swati Mohota (0.5); Baisakhi Das (0) lost to Dhyani Dave (1); S. Athirai (0) lost to Syed Nabeela Farheen (1); Rucha Pujara (1) bt C. H. Savetha (0).

Third round pairings: Harika-Eesha; Meera-Nisha; Tania-Mary; Aarthie-Nimmy; Kiran-Swati Ghate; Soumya-Krithika; Anuprita-Padmini; Amruta-Rucha; Dhyani-Sangeetha; Nabeela-Harini; Swati Mohota-Priya; Preethi-Divyasri; Savetha-Baisakhi; Uthra-Athirai.

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