Four share lead; Madhurima beats Raghavi

NEW DELHI: Four players including Madhurima Shekhar, M Mahalakshmi, Michelle Catherina and Tejaswini Sagar share the lead with full points after the third round matches at the 39th National Women Chalengers Chess Championship on Sunday.
Madhurima Shekhar stunned experienced Tamil nadu’s N Raghavi, while Tamilnadu duo M Mahalakshmi and Michelle Catherina beat Kerala C H Meghna and Anjana Krishna, respectively, in the third round.Maharashtra’s youngster Tejaswini Sagar got better of team mate Amruta Mokal in a well fought third round encounter that lasted 53 moves.
Playing black side of advanced variation in French Defence game, Madhurima tactically exploited the weakness of Queen Side of her opponent to register a creditable win in 56 moves.
In another third round match, the top board battle between second seed Rucha Pujari of Maharahstra and Harini S of Tamilnadu ended without decisive result. A marathon match that lasted 95 moves in the second board between Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh and J Saranya of Tamil Nadu also ended in a draw.
Earlier in the second round, V Varshini of Tamilnadu held top seed Chandika Divyasree to a creditable draw while third seed Nimmy A G and veteran Women International Master Bagyashree Thipsay were satisfied with half points against Arunima Kalra of Delhi and Salini R of Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
Results
Round 3: Rucha Pujari of Maharahstra (2.5) drew with Harini S of Tamilnadu (2.5); Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh (2.5) drew with Saranya J of Tamilnadu (2.5); Raghavi N of Tamilnadu (2) lost to Madhurima Shekhar of Delhi (3); Pallabi Roy of West Bengal (2.5) drew with Bharathi R of Tamilnadu (2.5); Michelle Catherina of Tamilnadu (3) beat Anjana Krishna S of Kerala (2); Tejaswini Sagar of Maharashtra (3) beat Amruta Mokal of Maharashtra (2); Mahalakshmi M of Tamilnadu (3) beat Meghna C H of Kerala (2); Arunima Kalra of Delhi (1.5) lost to Chandika Divyasree of Andhra Pradesh (2.5); Varshini V of Tamilnadu (1.5) lost to Nimmy A G of Kerala (2.5); Priya P of Tamilnadu (2.5) beat Hinduja Reddy of Andhra Pradesh (1.5); Shiny Das of Tripura (2) drew with Bagyashree Thipsay of Maharashtra (2); Salini R of Andhra Pradesh (2) drew with Cholleti Sahajasri of Andhra Pradesh (2); Aakasha of Bihar (1.5) lost to Swati Mohota of West Bengal (2.5); A Akshaya of Tamilnadu (1.5) lost to Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa (2.5); Sonakshi Rathore of Rajasthan (2) drew with Sandhya G of Andhra Pradesh (2); Meenu Rajendran of Kerala (2.5) beat Jayashree P Sankpal of LIC (1.5); S Jayaseeli of LIC (1.5) lost to Rajasurya J of Tamilnadu (2.5); Ramya Krishna of Andhra Pradesh (2) beat Sushmita Lama of Sikkim (1); Shweta Priayadarshini of Uttar Pradesh (1) lost to Madhuri M Patil of Maharashtra (2); Bala Kannamma P of Tamilnadu (2) beat Meghna Upadhyay of Madhya Pradesh (1).
Round 2: Chandika Divyasree drew with Varshini V; Mitali Madhukar Patil of Maharashtra lost to Rucha Pujari; Nimmay A G drew with Arunima Kalra; Saranya J beat Aparajita Gochhikar; Anjana Krishna of beat Ramya Krishna ; Bagyashree Thipsay drew with Salini R; Savant Riya lost to Raghavi N; Bharathi R beat Supriya Joshi; Pushpalata Mangal lost to Michelle Catherina; Amruta Mokal beat Priya VSS; Minki Sinha lost to Mahalakshmi M; Ardra V H lost to Harini S; Swati Mohota drew with Shiny Das; Hinduja Reddy drew with A Akshaya; Meghna C H beat Bala Kannamma.