Indian Women's Chess Championship 2013: Mary Ann Gomes wins Third Title

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Kolkata, September 5: Local favourite Mary Ann Gomes pipped Tania Sachdev and Soumya Swaminathan with a better tie-breaking score to clinch a hat-trick of titles in the 40th Indian Women’s National Premier Chess Championship on Thursday.

It was heartbreak for overnight leader Soumya as she lost to Padmini Rout in the final round to slip to third, while top seed Tania Sachdev who had suffered early losses finished second with six points from last seven rounds.

Mary Ann, who was on second spot, settled for a hard-fought draw against Ivana Maria Furtado and the result was enough to earn a third national title in a row.

Mary Ann, Tania and Soumya were locked on 7.5 points but the local girl had a better tie-breaking score (40.5) to pocket a prize purse of INR 1.75 lakh.

Subbaraman Vijayalaxmi had won the National women’s title five times in a row (1998-2002), while Rohini Khadilkar had won thrice in 1976, 1977 and 1979 — there was no championship in 1978.

Playing 14-year-old Ivana of Goa, Mary Ann found herself in an inferior position in a King’s Indian attack.

But Ivana was equally nervous as she offered a draw despite being a piece ahead on the 25th move and Mary Ann promptly accepted.

Odisha’s Padmini cleared the deck for Mary Ann later by outplaying the overnight leader Soumya, who was in tears after her loss.

Padmini, who had blundered last evening against Michelle Catherina, showed remarkable cool in handling a queen and rook ending and later converting her superior position into a winning rook and pawn ending to finish fourth.

The find of the championship was clearly the National junior girls champion, Ivana, who in her maiden National Premier gained 24 Elo points, while Bhakti Kulkarni lost 26 Elo points. (www.indianchessnews.com)
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Mary Ann Gomes Retains Indian National Chess Title

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Mary Ann Gomes has won the Indian national women's chess title for the second time at the event running from Premier title at the event running from October 22 to November 3 and was sponsored by the Jain Group and organised smoothly by the Jalgaon District Chess Association and the Jain Sport Academy.

Mary Ann Gomes who dedicated her first title at Chennai last year to her mother had the best of tie-break after four players tied for first on 7.5 points. She suffered a defeat to Swati Ghate and bounced back very well. She won the last two games to retain her title. After nine rounds she looked like she was out of contention for the title race by the leaders slowed down and Mary Ann caught up.

Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa who became a Woman Grandmaster recently finished second. The champion of 2010 Soumya Swaminathan of Pune was third and Eesha Karavade who had never won was fourth. At least seven players were in lead or joint lead after a sole leader emerged. Leaders: Meenakshi 4/4; Swati Ghate 5.5/7; Nisha Mohota, Bhakti Kulkarni 6/8; Bhakti Kulkarni, Eesha Karavade, Soumya Swaminathan 7/10.

Final placings: 1-4. WGM Mary Ann Gomes, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM Eesha Karavade 7.5/11; 5-6. WGM Padmini Rout, WGM Kiran Mohanty 7 each; 7-11. IM Nisha Mohota, WGM S Meenakshi, WIM P Priya, S Harini, WFM Chandika Divyasree 6.5 each; 12-13. Bodda Pratyusha, WFM Swati Mohota 6 each; 14-22. WGM Swati Ghate, Nimmy George, Michelle Catherina, WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy, WIM Ivana Furtado, WFM Rucha Pujari, Cholleti Sahajasri, WFM K Sai Nirupama 5.5 each; 23-25. WGM Kruttika Nadig, WFM J Saranya, Shweta Gole 5 each; 26-28. Amruta Mokal, G Lasya, WFM N Raghavi 4.5 each; 29 WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay 4; 30 R Salini 3; 31 J Rajasurya 2.5

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