Belt and Road Women Open Round 4-6: Pratyusha maintains her impressive run

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/07/2019

Former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria maintained her half-point lead going into the rest day with a score of 5.0/6. Among the Indians, Harika continues to struggle as she made her fifth consecutive draw to reach 3.5/6. Soumya Swaminathan is also at 3.5/6, she drew with Georgia no.1 woman GM Nana Dzagnidze in round 4 and suffered her first loss in the next round against WGM Olga Girya. WIM Pratyusha Bodda continues her stellar performance by holding Harika and WGM Ni Shiqun to a draw in round 4 and 5 respectively. WIM Rucha Pujari suffered two consecutive losses and she is now at 1.5/6. Photo: Misty Pine/China Intelligence Sports Network

Stefanova in sole lead

Former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova in the sole lead 5.0/6 | Photo: Misty Pine/CISN

Round 4

WIM Pratyusha Bodda drew with India no.2 GM Harika Dronavalli in round 4 | Photo: Misty Pine/CISN

In Nimzo-Indian Defence, Pratyusha managed to exchange pieces at regular interval to arise at an Opposite Color Bishop ending which was easy enough for her to make a draw against Harika.

IM Soumya Swaminathan held Georgia no.1 GM Nana Dzagnidze to a draw | Photo: Misty Pine/CISN

Soumya held Georgia no.1 Nana with Black pieces in Sicilian Moscow variation. The former India no.3 managed to thwart Nana's all attempts to stir up trouble, however Nana could have opted for something else than what she played.

Nana - Soumya, Round 4

Nana played 24.e5 which top engine also thinks to be okay. But what else could she have done here?

Round 5

Pratyusha managed to make a quick draw with WGM Shiqun Ni in Sicilian Moscow Variation. However a move before the draw agreement, Shiqun could have taken some chance.

Shiqun - Pratyusha, Round 5

Here Shiqun played 21.Bc1. What else could she have played to keep chances alive?

Round 6

In round 6, Soumya was the only one to score a victory among the Indian women.

Round 7 will resume on 15th July 2019 at 2 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. IST). 14th July is a rest day.

Round 6 results

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	13	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2412	4	½ - ½	4½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2474	7
2	17	IM	Guo Qi	CHN	2375	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2517	1
3	8	WGM	Girya Olga	RUS	2457	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Tan Zhongyi	CHN	2511	3
4	4	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2505	3	0 - 1	3		Zhang Lanlin	CHN	2195	26
5	9	WIM	Zhu Jiner	CHN	2454	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2492	5
6	6	IM	Khademalsharieh Sarasadat	IRI	2481	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Ushenina Anna	UKR	2448	10
7	18		Li Xueyi	CHN	2330	3	1 - 0	3	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2265	21
8	2	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2511	2½	1 - 0	2½	WIM	Gu Tianlu	CHN	2205	25
9	12	WGM	Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim	UZB	2422	2½	1 - 0	2½	WFM	Li Yunshan	CHN	2254	23
10	16	WFM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	MGL	2386	2½	0 - 1	2½	WGM	Ni Shiqun	CHN	2407	14
11	30		Bai Xue	CHN	2029	2½	0 - 1	2½	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	15
12	31		Du Yuxin	CHN	2015	2	1 - 0	2	WIM	Song Yuxin	CHN	2277	19
13	28		Xu Yuze	CHN	2083	2	½ - ½	2		Hu Yu A.	CHN	2095	27
14	20	WIM	Pujari Rucha	IND	2268	1½	0 - 1	2	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2433	11
15	34		Zhou Yafei	CHN	1720	1½	½ - ½	1½	WGM	Fominykh Maria	RUS	2243	24
16	32		Zhang Yuxuan	CHN	1987	1	0 - 1	1½		Zhang Xiao	CHN	2259	22
17	33		Peng Tianlu	CHN	1901	0	1 - 0	1½		Yan Tianqi	CHN	2034	29

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	7	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2474	5		4	WGM	Girya Olga	RUS	2457	8
2	1	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	RUS	2517	4		4½	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2412	13
3	3	GM	Tan Zhongyi	CHN	2511	4		4	IM	Guo Qi	CHN	2375	17
4	10	GM	Ushenina Anna	UKR	2448	4		4		Li Xueyi	CHN	2330	18
5	26		Zhang Lanlin	CHN	2195	4		3½	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	GEO	2511	2
6	5	GM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2492	3½		3½	WGM	Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim	UZB	2422	12
7	14	WGM	Ni Shiqun	CHN	2407	3½		3½	WIM	Zhu Jiner	CHN	2454	9
8	15	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2402	3½		3	GM	Lei Tingjie	CHN	2505	4
9	11	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2433	3		3	IM	Khademalsharieh Sarasadat	IRI	2481	6
10	21	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2265	3		3		Du Yuxin	CHN	2015	31
11	27		Hu Yu A.	CHN	2095	2½		2½	WFM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	MGL	2386	16
12	22		Zhang Xiao	CHN	2259	2½		2½		Xu Yuze	CHN	2083	28
13	23	WFM	Li Yunshan	CHN	2254	2½		2½		Bai Xue	CHN	2029	30
14	25	WIM	Gu Tianlu	CHN	2205	2½		2		Zhou Yafei	CHN	1720	34
15	29		Yan Tianqi	CHN	2034	1½		2	WGM	Fominykh Maria	RUS	2243	24
16	19	WIM	Song Yuxin	CHN	2277	2		1		Zhang Yuxuan	CHN	1987	32
17	33		Peng Tianlu	CHN	1901	1		1½	WIM	Pujari Rucha	IND	2268	20

Related news:

	Resigning a game with grace! @ 07/08/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	Ganguly wins Belt and Road 2019 and US$50,000! @ 07/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Belt and Road Open: Will Ganguly take home US$ 50,000? @ 03/08/2019 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Harika wins $15,000 at Belt and Road Women Open 2019 in China @ 20/07/2019 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Belt and Road Women Open Round 1-3: Four-way lead @ 11/07/2019 by Shahid Ahmed (en)