Vijayalakshmi Starts With A Victory
By Arvind Aaron
Third seed and former champion Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman started her campaign in the 41st National Women’s Chess Championship with an opening round victory over Nimmy George of Kerala.
The opening round on October 25 witnessed three decisive games among the six played. Top two seeds, Mary Ann Gomes and Padmini Rout were held to draws. Besides Vijayalakshmi, the other two winners were Lakshmi Praneetha and Bhakti Kulkarni.
The 41st edition of the National Women’s Premier is organised by the Nutan Buddhibal Mandal, Sangli, Maharashtra. This edition is a 12-player single all-play-all at The Ambassador Hotel in Sangli. The chief arbiter is L.R. Bhuvanaa, International Arbiter. Rounds begin from 2 p.m. each day and the last round on November 5 will be in the morning.
The results (round one): V Varshini (TN) lost to K Lakshmi Praneetha (AP); Mary Ann Gomes (WB) drew with Nisha Mohota (WB); Swati Ghate (Mah) drew with B Pratyusha (Tel); Padmini Rout (Odi) drew with Ivana Furtado (Goa); S Vijayalakshmi (TN) bt Nimmy George (Ker); Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) bt Hinduja Reddy (AP).

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