Vijaylakshmi takes sole lead

Defending champion S Vijayalakshmi of Indian Airlines outclassed former champion International Women's Master Anupama Gokhale of PSCB in the fourth round of the National Women's A chess championship in Delhi on Monday and shot into the sole lead.

WGM Vijayalakshimi has 3.5 points from four rounds and is followed by Anupama, IWM Swati Ghate of LIC and her younger sister Subbaraman Meenakshi of Indian Airlines, who are all in the second spot with 2.5 points.

Anupama's opening choice, an offbeat system in the Catalan, came as a pleasant surprise to Vijayalakshmi and she won a pawn very early in the game. Anupama did not get the desired compensation as Vijayalakshmi routinely developed her pieces and gained control of central squares to exert pressure on the kingside. Anupama fell under time pressure and lost a piece to lose rather tamely.

Meenakshi bounced back after last round's loss to crash through the defences of double GM norm holder Aarthie Ramaswamy of Wipro. Playing white, Meenakshi faced the Kings Indian defence and got a miniscule advantage in the opening.

Aarthie went for a dubious plan in the middlegame and placed her pieces badly to hand over the initiative to her opponent and could not get a moment's respite thereon as she lost an exchnage and a pawn for no counterplay. The rest was easy for Meenakshi who took a full point after 42 moves.

Swati was up against the Bishops opening against her LIC teammate Pallavi Shah and got a dynamically balanced position in the middlegame. However, as pieces started to get exchanged, both realised that a winning attempt was futile and signed the truce after 15 moves.

In the biggest upset of the day, 11-year-old Dronavalli Harika of Andhra Pradesh got the better of IWM Saheli Barua of South Eastern Railways. Saheli opted for the Leningrad Dutch and got a comfortable position in the middlegame but her plans went awry with the clock ticking away.

Harika cashed on the opportunity and caught Saheli unawar- es in a tactical trap to win a rook and the game in 51 moves.

IWM Nisha Mohota continued to struggle with her form and went down to Saimeera Ravi of Bank Sports Board in a Kings Indian defence game with white pieces. Saimeera dominated the proceedings right from the start in the Samisch variation and active piece-play on both flanks ensured her the point in 43 moves.

M R Sangeetha of Tamil Nadu drew with IWM Bhagyashree Thipsay of IDBI while Dolan Champa Bose of Bihar defeated Y Pratibha of Tamil Nadu in other games of the day.

Results (Round 4): D Harika (1.5) bt Saheli Dhar Barua (1); Bhagyashree Thipsay (2) drew M R Sangeetha (1.5); Nisha Mohota (1) lost to S Meenakshi (2.5); Pallavi Shah (1) drew Swati Ghate (2.5); Anupama Gokhale (2.5) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (3.5); Y Pratibha (2) lost to Dolan Champa Bose (1.5).