Swati Ghate leads as Mary Ann Gomes outs Tania Sachdev at chess nationals

KOLKATA: Defending champion Mary Ann Gomes outwitted top seed Tania Sachdev even as Swati Ghate emerged sole leader after Round 3 of the 40th National Women Premier Chess Championship, on Wednesday.

Playing with black pieces, the local girl, Mary Ann, opted for the Ragozin variation in the Queen’s Gambit which caught Tania by surprise as the top seed resigned in the 36th move.

Swati of LIC emerged as the sole leader with 2.5 points after a win against Michelle Catherina of Tamil Nadu.

Playing black, Swati won two pawns in the middle game and later effortlessly won in a rook ending where she had two connected passed pawns.

WGM Padmini Rout of Odisha beat Bhakti Kulkarni with black while overnight leader, Bodda Pratyusha of Andhra Pradesh went down to Kiran Monisha Mohanty of Odisha.

14-year-old Ivana Furtado of Goa overlooked the loss of a piece after a tactical combination against former World Junior Girls’ Champion Soumya Swaminathan of PSPB in a French defence.

Thereafter, Soumya had little difficulty in converting her material advantage into a win. (PTI)

Results round three: WGM Michelle Catherina (T.N.) (1/2) lost to Swathi Ghate (LIC)(2.5); Soumya Swaninathan(PSPB)(2) bt Ivana Maria Furtado(Goa)(1); WGM Tania Sachdev(AI)(1.5) lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes(W.B.)(2); G.K. Monnisha(T.N.) (1) bt WGM Nisha Mohta(PSPB)(1); Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa)(1) lost to Padmini Rout(Odisha)(2); WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty(LIC) (1.5) bt Bodda Pratyusha(A.P.)(2).