Karavade starts as top seed in National Women Premier Chess

Back in the National Championship after a long hiatus, International Master Eesha Karavade will start as the top seed in the 43rd edition of the National Women Premier Chess tournament that gets underway here today.
Despite the top three rated players of the country missing, the National Premier has turned out to be among the most competitive in recent years with the participation of several-time champions S Viajayalakshmi, current Asian bronze medallist Soumya Swaminathan and Padmini Rout who all are International Masters.
While Eesha is the rating favourite, all eyes will be on Vijaylakshmi who is on a comeback trail for some time now. The Chennai based player made an inconsequential fourth Grandmaster norm earlier this year at Chennai International.

At 37, Vijayalskhmi is also the oldest player in the premier event but those who have known her for a long time, know pretty well that age, when it comes to passion for chess, has not caught up with the first Woman Grandmaster of the country.
The championship will be played over 11 rounds on a round-robin basis between 12-players. The normal time control with 90 minutes for the entire game with a 30 second increment after every move will be in place and in addition to the benefits of making it to the Indian women team there is also a total prize pool of Rs 600000 with Rs 175000 purse reserved for the winner.

Participants: IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM Nisha Mohota, IM Padmini Rout, IM S Vijayalakshmi, WGM Mary Ann Gomes, WIM R Vaishali, WIM M Mahalakshmi, WGM Swati Ghate, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Bala Kannamma P, Pratyusha Bodda,
Pairing Round 1: Eesha Karavade vs Mary Ann Gomes; P Bodda vs Padmini Rout; R Vaishali vs P Bala Kannamma; Kiran Manish Mohanty vs S Vijayalakshmi; Swati Ghate vs M Mahalakshmi; Soumya Swaminathan vs Nisha Mohota.