Mongolia’s Batkhuyag Munguntuul becomes champion, Srija Seshadri finishes third

Top-seeded IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul from Mongolia lived up to her billing to claim the top honors in the SBI Life-AICF Women Grandmaster Chess Championship yesterday.

Thirty-year-old Batkhuyag who was in second position at the end of the 10th and penultimate round, scored a decisive win against Russian WIM Elena Tomilova in the final round to earn the full point and take her tally to eight from the 11-round competition.

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Overnight leader WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva from Kazakhstan slipped at the final hurdle losing to talented Indian WIM Srija Seshadri, who churned out another impressive performance against the higher rated Kazak player.

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Guliskhan with 7.5 points in the kitty had to settle for the second place, while the Tamil Nadu player Srija with a cumulative tally of seven points finished third.

Vietnam’s WGM Thi Kim Phung Vo, who was held to a draw by Indian WIM Vantika Agrawal was placed fourth, also with 7 points.

WIM Aakanksha Hagawane 6.5 points, WIM Vantika Agrawal and Monnisha GK, both with 5.5 points each finished in fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively.

Final Ranking after 11 Rounds

The tournament was an initiative of the All India Chess Federation to provide norm opportunities to the promising Indian players by inviting 6 elite WGMs from across the world and have provided the entire prize fund of 7.5 Lakhs.