Three-in-a-row for Mary Ann
TNN | Sep 6, 2013, 02.14 AM IST
KOLKATA: Defending champion Mary Ann Gomes, of Bengal, emerged as the winner in the UBI Women’s National Premier Chess Championship at the Spring Club on Thursday.
At the end of the final round (11th) three players – Mary Ann Gomes, Tania Sachdev and Soumya Swaminathan were tied on 7.5 points but the Bengal girl was placed on top on account of her better tie-break score.
It was Mary Ann’s third consecutive title, having triumphed in the same event in 2011 and 2012. The hat-trick enabled Mary Ann to take home a purse of Rs 1.75 lakh. Tania, who was placed second, pocketed Rs 1 lakh while the overnight leader Soumya, who went down to Padmini Rout in the final round, had to be content with the third prize of Rs 80,000.
Only Subaraman Vijayalaxmi, who had won the national women’s title five times in a row from 1998 to 2002, is now ahead of Mary Ann in terms of winning successive titles. Following her feat on Thursday, Mary Ann is now on a par with Rohini Khadilkar, who had won thrice in 1976, 1977 and 1979. The championship was not held in 1978. The find of the championship was Ivana Furtado of Goa.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Impressive.