International Master Padmini Rout fought brilliantly and had a draw with her PSPB teammate Eesha Karavade, following which she secured a hat-trick of title wins in the National Women Premier Chess Championship in New Delhi on Monday.
Padmini, who is from Odisha, managed to earn 8 points at the end of the tally. She aimed at the top throughout and had easy games to strike for gold.
Meanwhile, GM-elect S Vijayalakshmi of Air India beat R Vaishali of PSPB in her final round game. And, with 7.5 points, she won the silver medal ahead of Eesha, who finished third.
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It was a close fight between Soumya Swaminathan and Mary Ann Gomes for the third place. Later, Soumya went down. Despite winning over Soumya in the final round, Mary Ann Gomes ended a distant fifth on 5.5 points.
P Bala Kannamma of Tamil Nadu also gave a hard time to many of the top stars. A last round victory over Andhra girl Pratyusha Bodda ensured a Women International Master tag for Bala Kannamma.
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With this victory, Padmini has secured a place in the Indian women team in the next World team chess championship in which the Indian women qualified by virtue of their performance in the last Chess Olympiad. The other two members who we’ll see in the team are Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and D Harika. There are two more places that are yet to be filled.
Feature Image Credit: Alchetron
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