National Women Chess Championship | Divya Deshmukh and Mrudul Dehankar continue winning run
Divya Deshmukh and Mrudul Dehanar have built on their impressive form at the ongoing National Women Chess Championship registering impressive wins in the eighth round. While Deshmukh beat WFM Nityata Jain, Dehankar pulled off an upset by defeating fifth-ranked (WIM) Srija Seshadri.
Mrudul was the start of the day as she pulled off an unexpected win against local favorite and fifth-ranked (WIM) Srija Seshadri. The unseeded youngster did well to stun Seshadri in just 35 moves.Â
Meanwhile, Deshmukh made her way to a comfortable win over WFM Nityata Jain of Madhya Pradesh in an exciting 48-move clash. In the ninth round, Divya and Mrudul will face each other yet again in a national competition.
“On the Nimzo opening, her pieces got passive right from the start because of the mistakes she made in the beginning. I then won a pawn. In a queen and rook end game, I sacrificed that extra pawn within 10 moves. Then I got a passed pawn which was on the verge of getting converted into a queen and that was all but over for her,” Divya told TOI.
On the 23rd board, Srishti Pandey utilized her opening advantage to outplay lower-ranked Tamil Nadu’s V Rindhiya. On Thursday, Srishti will defend with her black pieces against a superior opponent in the form of Bala Kannamma of Tamil Nadu.
