chessbase india logo

Aakanksha and Srishti are the joint leaders at 34th National Junior 2019

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/11/2019

Mitrabha Guha maintained his lead by scoring a win against Grahesh in a prolonged Knight ending where the leader showed that he is not ready to settle for anything less than a win. Koustav Chatterjee is at the sole second spot with 7.5 points followed by five other players at 7.0 points each. In the girls section, Aakanksha Hagawane beat the overnight sole leader Bommini Mounika Akshaya by showing domination on the board. Srishti Pandey came to the board with a strong determination and she defeated Nityata Jain comfortably in just 31 moves. Three girls are trailing behind by a half point at 7.0 points a piece. With two rounds to go, the tournament is still open for anyone to win. Photo: IA Jitendra Choudhary

Mitrabha maintains his lead

Mitrabha is absolutely focused | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

In a long grueling battle where the majority of the game lasted in Queen-knight and eventually a prolonged Knight ending, Mitrabha showed his prowess in the endgame and outwitted Grahesh Y to maintain his sole lead by a half point heading into the penultimate round of the tournament.

Mitrabha - Grahesh

How should black make a progress here?

In the entire endgame if Mitrabha had given any shred of chance then it would be at this moment when he played 52...Nf3. Well the alternative was to repeat moves with 52...Nc2+ 53.Kc3 Ne1 54.Kb4 which does not improve the position. Of course he was not okay with a draw, he wanted to play for a win and thus went with 52...Nf3

Find out the best continuation for white here

It is still not over, Grahesh still could have saved the game and salvaged a draw.

How can white save the game here?

Koustav remains close behind the leader | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Koustav faced no difficulty in winning against Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi as he kept munching pawns at regular intervals and for them Aakash could not manage to find any compensation for it.

Aaryan Varshney and Saurabh Anand's game had an uneventful short draw in just 28 moves as pieces kept exchanging in almost every other move.

Soham Kamotra of Jammu and Kashmir is having a good unbeaten run so far | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

IM Anuj Shrivatri's woes continued as he blundered against Soham Kamotra in a relatively equal Queen-bishop vs Queen-knight endgame.

Anuj - Soham

Find out why 27.Qd6 is a blunder

Aradhya Garg used element of surprise | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Aradhya Garg surprised Rajdeep Sarkar as early as the sixth move of the game with 6.Nd2. The move itself is nothing extraordinary and cannot cause any trouble for black. However it gives a psychological edge and in high pressure matches, it matters a lot.

Aradhya - Rajdeep

6.Nd2 has only been played only twice before in rated games

How should black recapture at d5?

A wrong recapture at d5 will unleash white's wrath on the kingside which is exactly what happened in the game and Aradhya wrapped up things in just 27 moves. He will face the tournament leader Mitrabha Guha in the penultimate round.

Aakanksha beat Akshaya and claimed the lead

Aakanksha is back at the top | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Aakanksha did not win Silver and Bronze at Asian Junior and then Gold at Western Asia Junior and Youth, not for no reason. Even though she got knocked down in the fifth round, she regrouped and got herself back at the top again. She played on both side of the board and dominated her opponent, after Akshaya wanted to locked everything up by creating a pawn blockade in Ruy Lopez.

Srishti is poised to do well | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Srishti Pandey had the intent to go for nothing but the win and she scored an emphatic win over Nityata Jain in just 31 moves arising out of English Opening.

Aashna escaped with a draw | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Priyanka K's woes continued as again she missed another winning opportunity, this time in round 9 against Aashna Makhija.

Aashna - Priyanka K

White has blundered with 37.a4. Find out black's winning continuation

IM Vishal Sareen and Tournament Director Naresh Sharma observes the games | Photo: Jitendra Choudhary

Top seed Priyanka Nutakki showed why she is a force to be reckoned with by scoring a miniature win over Meenal Gupta in just 25 moves.

Meenal - Priyanka Nutakki

Black is dominating the position but it is time for black to put an exclamation mark to it

Round 9 results in Open

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
131Grahesh Y20260 - 17IMMitrabha Guha24432
21IMKoustav Chatterjee24491 - 0Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi201732
315FMAaryan Varshney2236½ - ½Saurabh Anand227810
43FMAnuj Shrivatri237660 - 16Soham Kamotra218916
520Aradhya Garg216561 - 06IMRajdeep Sarkar23624
613FMJeet Jain226460 - 16Kumar Gaurav203828
736Hemanth Raam19926½ - ½6Gaurav Rajesh Zagade217319
85Harshavardhan G B2360½ - ½6Avinash Ramesh168690
98IMSrijit Paul23171 - 0Ayush Sharma197539
109FMSrihari L R22861 - 0Aditya Varun Gampa190844
1137Selvamurugan B19791 - 0Anadkat Kartavya206024
1227Jain Kashish Manoj2041½ - ½Sreekar J S S185055
1329Mahindrakar Indrajeet20340 - 1Dere Pushkar187652
1434Akshit Kumar J20141 - 0Mohit Kumar Soni184458
1545Sibi Srinivas Einstein18980 - 15Subhayan Kundu226912

Complete results

Round 9 results in Girls

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
13WIMAakanksha Hagawane22271 - 07WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya20879
26WFMPandey Srishti21401 - 0WFMJain Nityata192717
34WFMMakhija Aashna21916½ - ½Priyanka K206710
420Meenal Gupta187960 - 16WIMPriyanka Nutakki22721
52WIMArpita Mukherjee22346½ - ½6AGMRenganayaki V175626
67WCMSharma Isha2139½ - ½6WIMChitlange Sakshi21855
78WFMSalonika Saina21001 - 0WCMArushi Kotwal175625
812WFMSavitha Shri B20040 - 1Poorna Sri M.K184822
918WFMTanishka Kotia19090 - 1Bhagyashree Patil197013
1014WFMPotluri Supreetha19681 - 0Rebecca Jesumarian156840
1116WFMBidhar Rutumbara1942½ - ½Sai Mahati A141256
1211Toshali V205751 - 05Sinthia Sarkar160037
1339Jegatha B158550 - 15Ghosh Samriddhaa196415
1453Vakcheri Mohitha145150 - 15Shah Vishwa189219
1557Sachi Jain140650 - 15WFMGreeshma Anand Dhumal183723

Complete results

Round 10 pairings in Open

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
12IMMitrabha Guha244387Aradhya Garg216520
210Saurabh Anand22787IMKoustav Chatterjee24491
316Soham Kamotra218977FMAaryan Varshney223615
428Kumar Gaurav20387IMSrijit Paul23178
534Akshit Kumar J2014FMSrihari L R22869
619Gaurav Rajesh Zagade2173Selvamurugan B197937
790Avinash Ramesh1686Grahesh Y202631
832Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi2017Hemanth Raam199236
952Dere Pushkar18766FMWagh Suyog227311
1018Dhananjay S218066FMAnuj Shrivatri23763
114IMRajdeep Sarkar236266CMBhavesh Mahajan218717
1222Abinandhan R208966Harshavardhan G B23605
1312Subhayan Kundu226966Barath Kalyan M206923
1413FMJeet Jain226466Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki204825
1527Jain Kashish Manoj204166Sibi Visal R223814

Complete pairings

Round 10 pairings in Girls

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
16WFMPandey Srishti2140WIMAakanksha Hagawane22273
29WFMBommini Mounika Akshaya208777Priyanka K206710
31WIMPriyanka Nutakki22727WIMArpita Mukherjee22342
417WFMJain Nityata1927WFMMakhija Aashna21914
55WIMChitlange Sakshi2185AGMRenganayaki V175626
613Bhagyashree Patil1970WFMSalonika Saina21008
722Poorna Sri M.K1848WFMPotluri Supreetha196814
819Shah Vishwa189266WCMSharma Isha21397
920Meenal Gupta187966Toshali V205711
1015Ghosh Samriddhaa196466Garima Gaurav171928
1123WFMGreeshma Anand Dhumal183766WFMBidhar Rutumbara194216
1256Sai Mahati A14126WFMSavitha Shri B200412
1318WFMTanishka Kotia1909Swara Lakshmi S Nair168431
1434Kiruthika B1645Nanditha V182824
1525WCMArushi Kotwal1756Rebecca Jesumarian156840

Complete pairings