Hardcore music fans will likely remember B.B.King’s classic 1978 Midnight Believer blues – 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, a fantastic player in her own right, gave up her bishop one move too soon, and Divya 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.
Divya Deshmukh 1-0 Vaishali Rameshbabu
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 much better, and eventually picked up the pinned bishop on e7.
Check out Divya’s postgame interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal for the game analysis.
Salome Melia 0.5–0.5 Humpy Koneru
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 2020 games, 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.
Polina Shuvalova 0.5–0.5 Nurgyul Salimova
Playing with Black after a defeat, the choice of the Scandinavian defence Salimova looked like a very risky decision. However, judging by the amount of time that Polina thought in the opening, I think that it definitely served its surprise purpose.
Although Shuvalova was able to obtain the bishop pair, Salimova’s strong knight on d5 proved 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 1.5/2 while Salimova scores for the first time in Pune.
Harika Dronavalli 0.5–0.5 Alina Kashlinskaya
After yesterday’s double defeat, both players were eager to score and climb out of the hole. Playing with Black, Kashlinskaya opted for the always aggressive King’s Indian Defense, against which Harika went for a sharp variation, clamping down the center pawn structure and playing on the flanks.
However, with everything still at 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.
Munguntuul Batkhuyag 0–1 Zhu Jiner
The final game of the day was very special. Zhu Jiner, on a mission here to win and qualify for the Candidates, grinded 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 GM 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 a 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 postgame interview with FIDE Press Officer IM Michael Rahal for Zhu’s fantastic explanation of the rook ending.
Round three pairings and dates
The third round of the fifth leg in the 2024/25 Women’s Grand Prix series starts on Wednesday, April 16, at 15:00 CET local time in Pune, India.
Zhu Jiner – Salome Melia
Alina Kashlinskaya – Munguntuul Batkhuyag
Nurgyul Salimova – HarikaDronavalli
Vaishali Rameshbabu – Polina Shuvalova
Humpy Koneru – Divya Deshmukh
More information about the event, including the regulations and details of the pairings, as well as live games can be found on the official website.
You can follow the games with expert commentary on FIDE’s YouTube channel.
Written by IM Michael Rahal
Photos: Abhilash Shinde
