Soumya Swaminathan starts as the top seed at 44th National Women Challengers

by C.K.Muralidharan - 21/07/2017

Soumya, Mary, Vaishali, Swati, Nisha, Bhakti - so many big names of Indian chess are taking part at the 44th National Women Challengers 2017. Eight spots are at stake for the National Premier 2017. In this article, our author from Mysore C.K. Muralidharan gives you all the information you need to get warmed up for this event. Who do you think will win this event? As always ChessBase India has a contest, with a chance for you to show your forecasting skills!

A keen fare is expected in the premier women's chess event in the country (National 'B'), the 44th FIDE rated National Women's challengers chess tournament 2017, conducted by the Mysore Chess centre, under the aegis of the UKCA and AICF which will kick off to a start at Mysore Sports Club's premises in Mysuru on 21st July and will conclude on 29th July 2017.

The championships will see some of the best women chess players in the
country in action in the 9-day tournament. The strong event will see
former National champions WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB), WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB), IM Nisha Mohota (PSPB) and WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy in action. The tournament will have 7 WGMs, 1 IM, 9 WIMs, 9 WFMs, 6 WCMs and 1 AFM in action in a field of 123 players.

Starting rank

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	5016193	IND	2349	PSPB
2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	5013623	IND	2331	PSPB
3	WIM	Vaishali R	5091756	IND	2327	TN
4	WGM	Swati Ghate	5003474	IND	2278	LIC
5	IM	Mohota Nisha	5004330	IND	2271	PSPB
6	WGM	Kulkarni Bhakti	5019516	IND	2255	AI
7	WIM	Pratyusha Bodda	5000629	IND	2236	AP
8	WIM	Nandhidhaa Pv	5050847	IND	2221	AAI
9	WFM	Srija Seshadri	5055903	IND	2200	DEL
10	WIM	Pujari Rucha	5024528	IND	2191	MAH
11	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	5004381	IND	2181	AAI
12		Harshita Guddanti	25043250	IND	2180	AP
13	WIM	Michelle Catherina P	5005736	IND	2177	AI
14	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	5019575	IND	2170	LIC
15		Nimmy A.G.	5015308	IND	2167	KER
16	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	5001080	IND	2154	TN
17	WIM	Parnali S Dharia	5043131	IND	2140	MAH
18	WCM	Chandreyee Hajra	5056535	IND	2124	WB
19	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	35002899	IND	2112	MAH
20	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	5056403	IND	2100	WB

Check the complete player's list

Soumya Swaminathan starts as the top seed and is a favourite to win the title

Mary Ann Gomes is the second seed

It would be very interesting to see how this youngster R. Vaishali fares. She has already won the title of National Women Challengers in 2015.

Will the Commonwealth Champion Swati Ghate continue her good run here as well?

Nisha Mohota is in need of a strong tournament, will this be the one for her?

ChessBase India contest:

Three months of ChessBase Premium Account is at stake here. All you have to do is tell us who will be the 44th National Women's Challengers Champion. Write your answers in the comments section below.

Note: At the Commonwealth Championships that ended a few days ago, we asked our readers who would win the the women's title. We got a lot of comments with names of many top players like Padmini, Soumya, Tania etc. In the end it was Swati Ghate who lifted the title and only one person Shyam Prasad had guessed that! So have a good look at the starting list and choose your champion!

What is at stake?

123 women chess players will take part in the tournament which
will have 11 rounds and it will be conducted on a Swiss league basis.
The top 8 players in this tournament will earn selection to take part
in the National 'A' championships to be held in Gujarat later this year.

Three Lakh Cash Prizes
1^st Place	Rs.72,000	7^th Place	Rs.12,000
2^nd Place	Rs.52,800	8^th Place	Rs.9,600
3^rdPlace	Rs.38,400	9^th Place	Rs.7,200
4^thPlace	Rs.28,800	10^th Place	Rs.4,800
5^th Place	Rs.21,600	11^th-20^th Place	Rs.3,600
6^th Place	Rs.16,800

The tournament carries a total prize fund of Rs.3 lakhs
along with trophies for the winners. Players from institutions like
PSPB, LIC, Air India, Airports Authority of India and from different
states will be seen in action.The first round of the tournament begins
on Friday afternoon.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Players Arrival	20^thJuly	06:00 PM	Round 6	24^th July	03:30 PM
Players Meet	21^st July	01:00 PM	Round 7	25^th July	09:00 AM
Round 1	21^stJuly	02:00 PM	Round 8	26^th July	09:00 AM
Round 2	22^ndJuly	09:00 AM	Round 9	27^th July	09:00 AM
Round 3	22^ndJuly	03:30 PM	Round 10	28^th July	09:00 AM
Round 4	23^rd July	09:00 AM	Round 11	29^th July	09:00 AM
Round 5	24^th July	09:00 AM	Prize Distribution	29^th July	04:00 PM

About the author

C.K.Muralidharan is a 55-year-old Free-lance Sports Journalist based in Mysore. He has 20 years of experience in sports journalism. He contributes to the Hindu National daily and Daily Star of Mysore on all sports in Mysore for the last 15 years. He has been covering sports in Mysore on his website - www.mysoresport.com. He is the promoter of Mysore Professional Chess Academy. IM M.S.Thejkumar is the Vice-President of the Academy and supervises the coaching programme. He works with the Mysore District Chess Association in order to spread the game of chess through the chess in schools program.