Mumbai: The Ram Ratna 42nd National Women Challengers Chess Championship 2015 has been organized by Diaspora Times on behalf of All India Chess Federation, Maharashtra Chess Association and Thane District Chess Association from 2 July to 11 July 2015 at Keshav Srushti, RMP Complex.
The tournament witnessed 104 participants from 18 states and 2 Special Units. The participants include 5 Women Grand Masters, 2 International Masters, 5 Women International Masters and 12 Women Fide Masters.
Top 8 players will be selected to participate in the forth coming National Women Premier Chess Championship 2015 (National A), which is to be held in the mid of October.
The world Under 12 Champion WFM Vaishali R from Tamil Nadu was stopped in round-8 by IM Tania Sachdev of Air India, the well experienced and No.4 player in the country.
Detail Report of Round-8
In the top Board No.1, Top Seed and ranked No.4 in the country IM Tania Sachdev with White Pieces and Vaishali R from TN in a very tough fight started with Benko/Volga Gamvbit. The game lasted for 4 hours and Vaishali was stopped from advancing further. Tania won the game in 34 moves and joined Vaishali with 7 points.
In Board No.2, Goan WGM Bhakti Kulkarni started with Queens Pawn Opening but WFM Rucha Pujari from Maharashtra converted it into a Slav defence Side variation. The game was good for the White in the beginning. Finally, Bhakti Kulkarni won the game and now stands with 6 pts.
In Board No.3, WIM Michelle Catherina from TN started the game with e4 while the Young WIM Goan Player Ivana Maria Furtado defended with Caro-Kann Defence. From the beginning, the game was equally fought by both till the 23rd move. After the exchange of all major pieces, the game ended with a Rook and Pawn. Michelle won the game in 58 moves after 5 hours of play.
In Board No.4, Nimmy George of Kerala started with king pawn opening while WGM Soumya Swaminathan of Maharastra responded with the Classical Sicilian Defense. Until half way both players fought equally. The game finally ended with a clear plus point for Soumya Swaminathan. She now follows with 6 points.
In Board No.5, the new young player Saina Salonika from Odisha with Elo of 1703 fought with white pieces against the well experienced strong WGM Swati Ghate of LIC. Swati preferred the Closed Sicilian variation. The game finally ended in favour of Swati Ghate in 37 moves.
Standings after Round 8:
Top Spots Shared by Vaishali R (TN) and IM Tania Sachdev (AI) with 7 points each.
The second Spot with 2 players with 6.5 pts each, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) and WIM Michelle Catherina (TN).
3 Players in the third Spot with 6 points each, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC), WGM Soumya Swaminathan (MAH) and WGM Swati Ghate (LIC).
