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National Women's Premier kicks off in Surat today!

by Sagar Shah - 25/11/2017

The Women's National Premier 2017 will begin from today in Surat, Gujarat. Many of the top Indian players (Tania, Viji, Eesha) have given this event a miss. However, the tournament is still extremely interesting because of the participation of three time consecutive national champion Padmini Rout, top seed Mary Ann Gomes, former World Junior Champion Soumya Swaminathan, Challengers winner Bhakti Kulkarni and Commonwealth Champion Swati Ghate. There are also some new faces like Sakshi Chitlange, Samriddha Ghosh and Srishti Pandey. We also have an SMCA online blitz contest for you to guess the winner of the event and win Rs.5,000 worth of ChessBase products!

In terms of sheer numbers this is not the strongest national women's premier that you would see, but the 44th Iwasa National Women's Premier is definitely an event that will be keenly contested especially because you have Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan and Bhakti Kulkarni - all players above 2300 Elo.

Starting player's rank:

No.NameFideIDFEDRtg
2WGMGomes Mary Ann5013623IND2333
8IMPadmini Rout5029295IND2324
7WGMSoumya Swaminathan5016193IND2320
3WGMKulkarni Bhakti5019516IND2311
6WGMSwati Ghate5003474IND2277
4WIMChitlange Sakshi35002899IND2248
10WIMNandhidhaa Pv5050847IND2190
11WGMMeenakshi Subbaraman5004381IND2165
12WGMKiran Manisha Mohanty5019575IND2159
5Bala Kannamma P5081432IND2058
9Ghosh Samriddhaa5094003IND1988
1Pandey Srishti35093290IND1885

 

The organizers brought in some novelty factor off the board when the game of Housie was used to determine the drawing of lots. These were the rules:

The one who got the 1st line would get no.1 in the drawing of lots, 2nd line would get no. 2, 3rd line would be no.3, 4th was 4 corners, 5th was Quick 5, 6th was under 50, 7th was unlucky 7, 8th was Letter T, 9th was above 50, 10th 1st Full house, 11th 2nd Full house, 12th was the one who was left.

As you can clearly see from the video Soumya Swaminathan was the unlucky 7

Mary Ann Gomes is the top seed of the event | Photo: Ankit Dalal

Padmini has been the national champion since last three consecutive editions. Can she make it four in a row?

The National Challengers champion would be looking to win the Premier as well - Bhakti Kulkarni

Nandhidhaa has always impressed with her performances in age category events. Can she now perform on the big stage?

Although Kiran Manisha Mohanty's rating has dipped quite a bit (It's 2159 now, earlier it was 2300+), she is definitely a dangerous opponent to face in this format.

Sakshi Chitlange makes her debut at the National Premier

Playing Schedule:

RoundDateTime
12017/11/2502.30 PM
22017/11/2610.00 AM
32017/11/2710.00 AM
42017/11/2810.00 AM
52017/11/2910.00 AM
62017/11/3010.00 AM
72017/12/0210.00 AM
82017/12/0310.00 AM
92017/12/0410.00 AM
102017/12/0510.00 AM
112017/12/0610.00 AM

 

SMCA online blitz contest for National Premier 2017:

Your chance to win ChessBase products worth Rs.5,000.

Step 1: Register yourself for the SMCA online blitz. You can do it from here.

 

Step 2: Choose your favourite to win out of the 12 participants. (The top 6 seeds are displayed in the picture above)

 

Step 3: You have to tell us what is so special about the favourite that you have chosen in step 2: For eg. if you favourite to win is Padmini Rout, you can write a few words about her what makes her so special.

 

You can leave your answer in the comments section below.

 

Last date for entries is 28th of November 2017. The right answer will receive a gift coupon worth Rs. 5,000 of ChessBase products which has to be used by 31st of December 2017.