National women's chess championship: Divya Deshmukh wins maiden title

Divya Deshmukh played out an 18-move draw with Soumya Swaminathan following a three-fold repetition of moves to claim her maiden MPL National women’s chess title on Wednesday.

Divya Deshmukh poses with the champion's trophy and the cheque after winning her maiden National women chess title in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

Divya Deshmukh played out an 18-move draw with Soumya Swaminathan following a three-fold repetition of moves to claim her maiden MPL National women’s chess title on Wednesday.

Divya, 16, played way over her eighth seeding in the nine-round competition and garnered eight points for the first prize of Rs. 5.50 lakh - the highest in the 47 editions of the championship.

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During the unbeaten campaign, Divya drew the first and the last rounds and won the rest. Against her rating of 2301, Divya performed at 2422 and gained 24 rating points.

Divya’s Maharashtra teammate Sakshi Chitlange (7) defeated Arpita Mukherjee to finish as runner-up following a three-way tie. N. Priyanka (7) took the third spot and pushed Srija Seshadri to the fourth, due to superior tie-break score.

Important results:Ninth round: Divya Deshmukh (8) drew with Soumya Swaminathan (6.5); Padmini Rout (6.5) drew with N. Priyanka (7); Arpita Mukherjee (6) lost to Sakshi Chitlange (7); Srija Seshadri (7) bt Isha Sharma (6); Pratyusha Bodda (5.5) lost to R. Vaishali (6.5); Mary Ann Gomes (6.5) bt Rakshitta Ravi (5.5); K. Priyanka (6.5) bt Nisha Mohota (5.5); Parnali S. Dharia (6.5) bt Savitha Shri (5). Final standings (top-10): 1. Divya, 2 Sakshi, 3. N. Priyanka, 4. Srija, 5. Soumya, 6. Vaishali, 7. Padmini, 8. Mary, 9. K. Priyanka, 10. Parnali.