Mary Ann Gomes Takes Sole Lead

Mary Ann Gomes Takes Sole Lead
by Arvind Aaron

Round four of the National Women’s Premier Chess Championship saw three-time champion Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata wresting sole lead. She beat former champion Swati Ghate of Pune on October 28, 2014 to move to 3.5/4 and take a slender half point lead. Swati Ghate hailed from Sangli but moved to Pune many years before

Round five will see the crucial clash between Padmini Rout and Mary Ann Gomes. It will have crucial bearing on the title in this 12-player event. Seven rounds remain to be played in this event that is being played at The Ambassador Hotel, Sangli in Maharashtra.

Most of the fourth round games were fought well and went long. The biggest rating gainer so far is Pratyusha of Hyderabad who is gaining 24.4 Elo so far. But she is  yet to win a single game! The tournament director is Chidambar Kotibhaskar. Nutan Buddhibal Mandal is one of the oldest chess organisations in India. Sangli is also the starting point of the river Krishna. Five time National Women’s champion Bhagyashree Sathe hailed from Sangli but later moved to Mumbai after marrying P.M. Thipsay to be called Bhagyashree Thipsay.

The results of round four: K Lakshmi Praneetha (AP) 2 lost to Nimmy George (Ker) 2.5; Ivana Furtado (Goa) 2 bt Hinduja Reddy (Tel) 0; B Pratyusha (Tel) 1.5 drew with Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 3; Nisha Mohota (WB) 2.5 drew with S Vijayalakshmi (TN) 2.5; V Varshini (TN) 1 lost to Padmini Rout (Odi) 3; Mary Ann Gomes (WB) 3.5 bt Swati Ghate (Mah) 0.5.