New Delhi: Back in the National championship after a long hiatus, International Master Eesha Karavade will start as the top seed in the 43rd edition of the National Women Premier Chess tournament that gets underway here at Punjab Bhawan.
Despite the top three rated players of the country missing, the National premier has turned out to amongst the most competitive in recent years with participation of several times National champion S Viajayalakshmi, current Asian Continental bronze medallist Soumya Swaminathan and Padmini Rout who all are International Masters.
While Eesha is the rating favourite, all eyes will be on Vijaylakshmi who is on a comeback trail for some time now. The Chennai based made an inconsequential fourth Grandmaster norm earlier this year at Chennai International.
At 37, Vijayalskhmi is also the oldest player in the premier event but those who have known her for a long time, know pretty well that age, when it comes to passion for chess, hasn’t caught up with the first Woman Grandmaster of the country.
The championship will be played over 11 rounds on a round-robin basis between 12-players. The normal time control with 90 minutes for the entire game with a 30 second increment after every move will be in place and in addition to the benefits of making it to the Indian women team there is also a total prize pool of Rs. 600000/- with Rs. 175000/- purse reserved for the winner.
Eesha Karavade is known to be matching wits with the men and her rating is a clear indication that she has been doing well. Playing quite consistently recently, Eesha’s main challenge will be to score heavily against lower ranked opponents as she has been playing higher ranked opposition off late.
Padmini Rout and Soumya Swaminathan have been a part of the Indian team for a long time now but the former is clearly having issues with her form off-late. The slide for Padmini Rout has continued for quite some time now and she has lost over 75 points from her career high rating recorded in March 2015.
Soumya has been consistently gaining in strength and was one of the mainstay behind Indian women’s fifth place finish at the Chess Olympiad in Baku in September last.
Among other players in the fray, former champion Mary Ann Gomes is another fierce competitor while talented R Vaishali will be raring to have a go against some of the best players of the country.
Participants: IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM Nisha Mohota, IM Padmini Rout, IM S Vijayalakshmi, WGM Mary Ann Gomes, WIM R Vaishali, WIM M Mahalakshmi, WGM Swati Ghate, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Bala Kannamma P, Pratyusha Bodda,
Pairing round 1: Eesha Karavade vs Mary Ann Gomes; P Bodda vs Padmini Rout; R Vaishali vs P Bala Kannamma; Kiran Manish Mohanty vs S Vijayalakshmi; Swati Ghate vs M Mahalakshmi; Soumya Swaminathan vs Nisha Mohota.
