World Top 100 Players

All three Kolkata girls, Mary Ann Gomes, Nisha Mohota and her elder sister Swati Mohota posted impressive victories in round seven of the 31st National Women A Championship being played at Hotel Goldfinch in Bangalore on Saturday.

The tournament has reached an interesting stage with no player able to hold on to sole lead for more than a single round. Now, WFM Mary Ann Gomes and top seed WGM Nisha Mohota are jointly leading the 14-player tournament with five points out of seven games. International Woman Master Anupama Gokhale of Bharat Petroleum, Mumbai who suffered a defeat and WGM Swati Ghate of LIC are tied for the third-fourth positions with 4.5 points.

"Mary Ann Gomes played very well, and I played badly," conceded Anupama Gokhale, the overnight leader. Mary won quickly with the white pieces in a king's Indian defence game with her usual enterprising style of play. Top seed WGM Nisha Mohota, the only undefeated player so far joined Mary in the lead accounting for Tamil Nadu's Priya with white. Mary and Nisha are in lead but with contrasting styles. Mary has played all decisive games while Nisha has been more cautious playing the most drawn games.

Swati Mohota made the sweep by Bengal girls complete by shocking Aarthie Ramesh. IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay and WGM Swati Ghate scored their second victory in a row and have now fully recovered from the dismal start. 

M.R.Sangeetha spoilt her good start by crashing to her third successive defeat. Enjoying a good position with the white pieces she fixed the pawn on f6 and her attack lost direction. Anuprita Patil used this mistake to win the Sicilian Scheveningen game with the black pieces. Six rounds remain to be played in this 14-player round robin. Event concludes on May 6.

The results of the seventh round:

Pairing for Sunday's eighth round:

C o n t a c t