Defending champion Padmini Rout of Odisha used a piece sacrifice to defeat Soumya Swaminathan of PSPB in the eighth round of the Ramratna National Women’s Premier at the Bengal Art Gallery in Kolkata on November 21, 2015.
After this eventful round, Swati Ghate and Padmini Rout are leading with 6.5/8. They maintained the top place with crucial wins. Three rounds remain to be played.
Swati Ghate won a pawn early in the game. When Michelle fought back and equalised the material, black gave up two pieces for a rook and went down in 52 moves.
The next round brings Padmini Rout and Swati Ghate face to face and it will be a title deciding encounter.
Pratyusha jumped to third place on 5.5 points after beating Priyanka K with the black pieces.
In a well contested game, R Vaishali beat Bhakti Kulkarni in a rooks and minor piece ending to join her opponent in fifth spot.
Former champion Tania Sachdev improved her placing with a 34-move win over Neha Singh. Gradually advancing her Samish attack against the king’s Indian defence, Tania finished with a spectacular bishop sacrifice.
Round 8 standings:
1-2. IM Padmini Rout IND 2437 and WGM Swati Ghate IND 2230 – 6.5
3. WIM Pratyusha Bodda IND 2248 – 5.5
4. WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND 2341 – 5
5-6. WFM Vaishali R IND 2298 and WGM Kulkarni Bhakti IND 2257 – 4.5
7-10. WIM Michelle Catherina P IND 2242, WFM Varshini V IND 2163, IM Tania Sachdev IND 2385 and Priyanka Nutakki IND 1994 – 3.5
11. Singh Neha IND 2024 – 1
12. Priyanka K IND 2011 – 0.5
