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Mary Ann Gomes and Soumya Swaminathan continued their winning runs to join overnight leader Swati Ghate on the leader board after the fourth round of the 40th National Women Premier Chess Championship on Thursday.
Two-time defending champion and local favourite Mary Ann, playing white, went into the endgame with a couple of extra pawns in a rook ending and then went on to convert her material advantage with clinical precision to beat G K Monnisha of Tamil Nadu.
Playing black, Soumya (PSPB) exploited a pin against Michelle Catherina’s king to create a passed pawn in a Sicilian defence to earn a full point.
Swathi Gate, representing LIC, tried in vain to squeeze a win out of a sterile position against Bodda Pratyusha of Andhra Pradesh before signing truce after playing marathon 96 moves.
Swati’s draw meant that Mary Ann and Soumya joined the overnight leader as the trio shared the pole position with three points each.
Meanwhile, top seed Tania Sachdev’s title hope got a severe blow after suffering a second successive defeat when the Air India girl went down to the youngest player of the meet, Ivana Furtado of Goa, the National Junior champion.
Tania, who lost to Mary Ann yesterday, was off colour once in a Nimzo Indian defence to get into an inferior position playing black as the 14-year-old wrapped the issue on the 30th move.
City-based, IM Nisha Mohta of PSPB, who has had a bad start, succumbed to a loss against Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa in 42 moves.
Padmini Rout of Odisha, playing against her state-mate Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) could make no headway in a rook and equal pawn ending and both players agreed to a draw in 40 moves. (PTI)
Results (Round 4)
WGM Swati Ghate (LIC) (3) drew Bodda Pratyusha (AP) (2.5); WGM Padmini Rout (Odisha) (2.5) drew WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty(LIC) (2); IM Nisha Mohta (PSPB) (1) lost to CM Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) (2); WGM Mary Ann Gomes (W.B.) (3) bt WFM G.K. Monnisha (T.N.) (1); WIM Ivana Maria Furtado (Goa) (2) bt IM Tania Sachdev (AI) (1.5); Michelle Catherina (TN) (0.5) lost to WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) (3).
