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.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	31		Grahesh Y	2026	6½	0 - 1	7	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2443	2
2	1	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2449	6½	1 - 0	6½		Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2017	32
3	15	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2236	6½	½ - ½	6½		Saurabh Anand	2278	10
4	3	FM	Anuj Shrivatri	2376	6	0 - 1	6		Soham Kamotra	2189	16
5	20		Aradhya Garg	2165	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Rajdeep Sarkar	2362	4
6	13	FM	Jeet Jain	2264	6	0 - 1	6		Kumar Gaurav	2038	28
7	36		Hemanth Raam	1992	6	½ - ½	6		Gaurav Rajesh Zagade	2173	19
8	5		Harshavardhan G B	2360	5½	½ - ½	6		Avinash Ramesh	1686	90
9	8	IM	Srijit Paul	2317	5½	1 - 0	5½		Ayush Sharma	1975	39
10	9	FM	Srihari L R	2286	5½	1 - 0	5½		Aditya Varun Gampa	1908	44
11	37		Selvamurugan B	1979	5½	1 - 0	5½		Anadkat Kartavya	2060	24
12	27		Jain Kashish Manoj	2041	5½	½ - ½	5½		Sreekar J S S	1850	55
13	29		Mahindrakar Indrajeet	2034	5½	0 - 1	5½		Dere Pushkar	1876	52
14	34		Akshit Kumar J	2014	5½	1 - 0	5½		Mohit Kumar Soni	1844	58
15	45		Sibi Srinivas Einstein	1898	5½	0 - 1	5		Subhayan Kundu	2269	12

Complete results

Round 9 results in Girls

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	WIM	Aakanksha Hagawane	2227	6½	1 - 0	7	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2087	9
2	6	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2140	6½	1 - 0	6½	WFM	Jain Nityata	1927	17
3	4	WFM	Makhija Aashna	2191	6	½ - ½	6½		Priyanka K	2067	10
4	20		Meenal Gupta	1879	6	0 - 1	6	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2272	1
5	2	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2234	6	½ - ½	6	AGM	Renganayaki V	1756	26
6	7	WCM	Sharma Isha	2139	5½	½ - ½	6	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2185	5
7	8	WFM	Salonika Saina	2100	5½	1 - 0	5½	WCM	Arushi Kotwal	1756	25
8	12	WFM	Savitha Shri B	2004	5½	0 - 1	5½		Poorna Sri M.K	1848	22
9	18	WFM	Tanishka Kotia	1909	5½	0 - 1	5½		Bhagyashree Patil	1970	13
10	14	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	1968	5½	1 - 0	5½		Rebecca Jesumarian	1568	40
11	16	WFM	Bidhar Rutumbara	1942	5½	½ - ½	5½		Sai Mahati A	1412	56
12	11		Toshali V	2057	5	1 - 0	5		Sinthia Sarkar	1600	37
13	39		Jegatha B	1585	5	0 - 1	5		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1964	15
14	53		Vakcheri Mohitha	1451	5	0 - 1	5		Shah Vishwa	1892	19
15	57		Sachi Jain	1406	5	0 - 1	5	WFM	Greeshma Anand Dhumal	1837	23

Complete results

Round 10 pairings in Open

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	IM	Mitrabha Guha	2443	8		7		Aradhya Garg	2165	20
2	10		Saurabh Anand	2278	7		7½	IM	Koustav Chatterjee	2449	1
3	16		Soham Kamotra	2189	7		7	FM	Aaryan Varshney	2236	15
4	28		Kumar Gaurav	2038	7		6½	IM	Srijit Paul	2317	8
5	34		Akshit Kumar J	2014	6½		6½	FM	Srihari L R	2286	9
6	19		Gaurav Rajesh Zagade	2173	6½		6½		Selvamurugan B	1979	37
7	90		Avinash Ramesh	1686	6½		6½		Grahesh Y	2026	31
8	32		Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2017	6½		6½		Hemanth Raam	1992	36
9	52		Dere Pushkar	1876	6½		6	FM	Wagh Suyog	2273	11
10	18		Dhananjay S	2180	6		6	FM	Anuj Shrivatri	2376	3
11	4	IM	Rajdeep Sarkar	2362	6		6	CM	Bhavesh Mahajan	2187	17
12	22		Abinandhan R	2089	6		6		Harshavardhan G B	2360	5
13	12		Subhayan Kundu	2269	6		6		Barath Kalyan M	2069	23
14	13	FM	Jeet Jain	2264	6		6		Jayachandra Srinivas Vellanki	2048	25
15	27		Jain Kashish Manoj	2041	6		6		Sibi Visal R	2238	14

Complete pairings

Round 10 pairings in Girls

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	WFM	Pandey Srishti	2140	7½		7½	WIM	Aakanksha Hagawane	2227	3
2	9	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	2087	7		7		Priyanka K	2067	10
3	1	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2272	7		6½	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	2234	2
4	17	WFM	Jain Nityata	1927	6½		6½	WFM	Makhija Aashna	2191	4
5	5	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2185	6½		6½	AGM	Renganayaki V	1756	26
6	13		Bhagyashree Patil	1970	6½		6½	WFM	Salonika Saina	2100	8
7	22		Poorna Sri M.K	1848	6½		6½	WFM	Potluri Supreetha	1968	14
8	19		Shah Vishwa	1892	6		6	WCM	Sharma Isha	2139	7
9	20		Meenal Gupta	1879	6		6		Toshali V	2057	11
10	15		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1964	6		6		Garima Gaurav	1719	28
11	23	WFM	Greeshma Anand Dhumal	1837	6		6	WFM	Bidhar Rutumbara	1942	16
12	56		Sai Mahati A	1412	6		5½	WFM	Savitha Shri B	2004	12
13	18	WFM	Tanishka Kotia	1909	5½		5½		Swara Lakshmi S Nair	1684	31
14	34		Kiruthika B	1645	5½		5½		Nanditha V	1828	24
15	25	WCM	Arushi Kotwal	1756	5½		5½		Rebecca Jesumarian	1568	40

Complete pairings

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