40th National Women's Premier Chess Championship: Soumya Swaminathan leads

Soumya Swaminathan

Pune girl Soumya Swaminathan continued her winning run to hold on to her sole lead, even as local favourite Mary Ann Gomes, eyeing a hat-trick of titles, kept herself in the hunt after the penultimate round of the 40th National Women Premier Chess Championship here today.

Soumya (7.5 points) is just half-a-point ahead of Mary Ann after the 10th round as the leader faces Padmini Rout with black in a tough final round tomorrow.

Two-time defending champion Mary Ann, on the other hand, is paired against National junior girls’ champion, 14-year-old Ivana Furtado of Goa.

In case both of them finish on equal points tomorrow, Mary Ann is better placed in the tie-break than Soumya.

Playing white, Soumya exploited the weakness of Bodda Pratyusha’s position to win two pawns in a French defence before the Andhra girl resigned.

Mary Ann outsmarted Swati Ghate with black in a Sicilian defence, as the former was in total control of the position from the beginning.

Swati blundered her rook for knight as Mary Ann effectively utilised her extra material to win the game.

Unfancied Michelle Catherina of Tamil Nadu took the day’s honours after upsetting Padmini in 86 moves in a queen ending.

Top seed Tania Sachdev had a fluent win against Kiran Manisha Mohanty to jump into the sole third spot with 6.5 points.

In another match, the experienced Nisha Mohota outwitted Ivana Furtado in 59 moves in a bishop versus knight ending. — PTI

Results (Round 10) WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) (5.5) lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes (WB) (7); WIM Ivana Maria Furtado (Goa) (4.5) lost to IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) (4.5); Michelle Catherina (TN) (3) bt WGM Padmini Rout (Odisha) (6); WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) (7.5) bt Bodda Pratyusha (AP) (4.5); IM Tania Sachdev (AI) (6.5) bt WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) (3.5); WFM G K Monnisha (TN) (3.5) drew WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) (4).