National Chess: Michelle Catherina in sole lead

New Delhi: One round remaining, Tamil Nadu teenager Michelle Catherina taken the sole lead with eight points after defeating state mate M Mahalakshmi in the penultimate round of the ongoing Amity 39th National Women Challengers Chess Championship here at Naurang House on Sunday afternoon.

Playing with black pieces in Rubinstein variation of Nimzo-Indian defence, Catherina exploited Mahalakshmi’s weakness in the centre and gained a vital pawn in the twenty-fifth move.  She maintained the pawn advantage till the end to seal the match in 66 moves. 

Meanwhile other overnight leaders Nimmy A G of Kerala and R Bharathi are at number two spot with seven and half points as they were agreed to split the points after 45 moves in a Classical Sicilian game. Seven players including top seed Chandika Divyasree, who beat Madhuri M Patil of Maharashtra are occupying the third spot with seven points. 

In the eleventh and final round will be held tomorrow morning and Catheina takes on Nimmy with white pieces while Bhrathi pitted against state mate P Priya with dark colour pieces. 


Important Results

Round-10 :-  Bharathi R of Tamilnadu (7.5) drew with Nimmy A G of Kerala (7.5); Mahalakshmi M of Tamilnadu (7) lost to Michelle Catherina of Tamilnadu (8); Cholleti Sahajasri of Andhra Pradesh (7) drew with Saranya J of Tamilnadu (7); Chandika Divyasree of Andhra Pradesh (7) beat Madhuri M Patil of Maharashtra (6); Salini R of Andhra Pradesh (6) lost to Priya P of Tamilnadu (7); Ramya Krishna of Andhra Pradesh (7) beat Lasya G of Andhra Pradesh (6); Amruta Mokal of Maharashtra (6.5) drew with Bagyashree Thipsay of Maharashtra (6.5); Swati Mohota of West Bengal (7) beat Raghavi N of Tamilnadu (6); A Akshaya of Tamilnadu (6) drew with Rajasurya J of Tamilnadu (6.5); Ardra V H of Kerala (5.5) lost to Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra (6.5); Harini S of Tamilnadu (6.5) beat Supriya Joshi of Maharashtra (5.5); Hinduja Reddy of Andhra Pradesh (6.5) beat Shweta Gole of Andhra Pradesh (5.5); Meghna C H of Kerala (5.5) lost to Pallabi Roy of West Bengal (6.5); Mitali Madhukar Patil of Maharashtra (6.5) beat Aparajita Gochhikar of Orissa (5.5); Sandhya G of Andhra Pradesh (6.5) beat Varishini V of Tamilnadu (5.5); Savant Riya of Goa (6.5) beat Tejaswini Sagar of Maharashtra (5.5); Chandreyee Hajra of West Bengal (5.5) lost to Meenu Rajendran of Kerala (6); Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa (5.5) drew with Bala Kannamma of Tamilnadu (5.5); Vaibhavi Thakur of Haryana (5) lost to Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh (6); Anjana Krishna S of Kerala (6) beat Priya VSS of Andhra Pradesh (5).