By IANS,
New Delhi : Top seed Tania Sachdev’s quest for a hat-trick of national women’s titles was seriously dented as seasoned campaigner Nisha Mohota forced her to a draw in the penultimate round of 35th Parsvnath National Women Chess Championship at Russian Centre for Science and Culture here Saturday.
Meanwhile, overnight joint leader Kruttika Nadig overcame fourth seed Soumya Swaminathan in just 28 moves to lead the table with 7.5 points.
Playing with white pieces, Tania tried her best to take full points from this outing but failed to breach Nisha’s defence and agreed for a draw in 76 moves.
Displaying a fine attack game in Sicilian defence, Kruttika put Soumya under time pressure from the beginning and Soumya failed to complete her moves in allotted time.
In the final round matches Sunday, Kruttika will take on state mate Eesha Karavade while Tania will play against Asian Junior Champion Mary Ann Gomes. Tania will be under pressure to win tomorrow’s game against Mary as Kruttika enjoys a crucial half point lead over her.
In the other tenth round matches, Women Grandmaster Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra defeated Padmini Rout of Orissa in 73 moves and Mary Ann Gomes got better off Amrutha Mokal in 35 moves. Eesha is now occupying the lone third spot with 5.5 points.
Women Grandmaster Swathi Ghate signed a peace treaty with Kiran Manisha Mohanty while Goan girl Bhakti Kulkarni overcame Pon N Krithika of Tamil Nadu in the tenth round.
Results of Round 10: Amrutha Mokal (4) lost to Mary Ann Gomes (4.5), Tania Sachdev (7) drew with Nisha Mohota (5), Soumya Swaminathan (5) lost to Krutttika Nadig (7.5), Eesha Karavade (5.5) beat Padmini Rout (3.5), Kiran Manisha Mohanty (3.5) drew with Swathi Ghate (5), Pon N Krithika (4.5) lost to Bhakti Kulkarni (5)
Pairings of Round 11: Bhakti Kulkarni vs. Amrutha Mokal, Swathi Ghate vs. Pon N Krithika, Padmini Rout vs. Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Kruttika Nadig vs. Eesha Karavade, Nisha Mohota vs. Soumya Swaminathan, Mary Ann Gomes vs. Tania Sachdev