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Press release by FIDE
Hardcore music fans will likely remember B.B.King's classic blues Midnight Believer (1978) – and chess players would do good to take note after this afternoon's shocking events in the second round of the Pune Women's Grand Prix.
Vaishali Rameshbabu, a fantastic player in her own right, gave up her bishop one move too soon, and Divya Deshmukh notched up her second win in a row. Combined with Zhu Jiner's excellent rook endgame technique, the afternoon's games lead us into the third round with two clear leaders.
The ceremonial first moves were performed by Sameer Pathak, the CEO of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, and Niranjan Godbole, Tournament Director and Secretary of the Maharashtra Chess Association. Also present at the opening ceremony was Santosh Gilukurai, Sports Authority of India.
Let's take a closer look at the five games.
Round 2 results
Sameer Pathak and Niranjan Godbole played the first move in the all-Indian battle between Divya and Vaishali | Photo: Abhilash Shinde
The round had barely begun, and we already had the first decisive result of the day. Playing really fast with the black pieces, Vaishali made a huge blunder that left her completely lost on move seventeen.
"I was quite lucky to have briefly glanced at this line just five minutes before the game", Divya explained in her post-game interview, in which she went over the opening for the online audience. "It's not really a win, because she just messed up the move order and I won a piece – these things sometimes happen, we are human".
Theory suggests that in this position, the correct move is 17…Re8, protecting the bishop and getting out of the white queen's x-ray attack. After 18.Nxc7 Bg4! there is a line that ends in a forced draw, as Divya noted after the game.
But Vaishali played the bishop one move too soon – 17…Bg4?, and after 18.Nxf6! (hitting the rook on a8) 18…Bxf3 19.Nxd7+ Ke8 and 20.Nc5, White emerged with a much better position, and eventually picked up the pinned bishop on e7.
Check out Divya's post-game interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal for the game analysis.
An interesting battle of piece activity. Playing with white, Salome Melia opened with the Scotch. For a while, they followed a couple of IM Carissa Yip's games from 2020, until Melia decided to deviate with the engine's suggestion 13.Re1.
White's piece activity was more than enough for the pawn that she decided to sacrifice. Humpy picked up the gauntlet, captured the b2-pawn and sent a clear message to her opponent, "Where is your compensation?"
But the Georgian IM had everything under control. After a few precise exchanges, she forced a queen and rook endgame, recuperating her lost pawn and forcing a draw.
For Humpy, two draws in the first two games, albeit with the black pieces, is not a great start, but tomorrow she will have a chance to strike with white against tournament leader and her national team colleague Divya.
Salome Melia v. Humpy Koneru | Photo: Abhilash Shinde
Playing with black after a defeat, choosing the Scandinavian Defence looked like a very risky decision by Salimova. However, judging by the amount of time that Shuvalova thought in the opening, I think that it definitely served its purpose of surprising the opponent.
Although Shuvalova was able to obtain the bishop pair, Salimova's strong knight on d5 proved to give clear compensation, and Polina was unable to make any progress. The position was very solid for black, and it seemed difficult to find a way to increase the minimum advantage.
Around move thirty, Shuvalova was already looking for a way out, and she found a perpetual check with her queen. With this result, Shuvalova progresses to 1½/2 while Salimova scored for the first time in Pune.
Polina Shuvalova v. Nurgyul Salimova | Photo: Abhilash Shinde
After yesterday's defeats, both players were eager to score and climb out of the hole. Playing with black, Kashlinskaya opted for the ever-aggressive King's Indian Defense, against which Harika went for a sharp variation, clamping down the centre pawn structure and playing on the flanks.
However, with everything still in play, and most of the pieces still on the board, both players decided to play it safe and repeat the same position three times, resulting in a draw on move twenty-five.
In the final position, the engine does suggest the possibility of exchanging minor pieces and picking up a pawn, but at the same time it feels that there should be some compensation.
Harika Dronavalli during the first round | Photo: Abhilash Shinde
The final game of the day was very special. Zhu Jiner, on a mission here to win and qualify for the Candidates, ground down Munguntuul in a very tricky double-rook ending. With this victory, Zhu Jiner co-leads the tournament with a 100% score and is already looking at a chance to make history.
The Mongolian chess star opened with the fashionable 6.Bd3 variation in the Najdorf Sicilian. Although she was well-prepared, she didn't seem to make any real progress, and the Chinese grandmaster was able to equalise comfortably in the middlegame.
The tide started to turn around move thirty. Although the engine assessed the position as roughly equal, it soon became clear that Zhu Jiner was pressing for a win.
As Zhu noted after the game, "This was not a very hard game. It was very long and I am not sure about the endgame because rook endgames are always a draw, but I just tried to keep up the pressure and, in the end, I just won".
By means of excellent endgame technique, she forced a double-rook ending, which she converted with textbook mastery.
Check out the post-game interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal for Zhu's fantastic explanation of the rook ending.
