Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 30: It turned out to be a very good day for the Orissa chess players at the Commonwealth Chess Championships which concluded Tuesday at New Delhi. IM Padmini Rout won gold in the women’s section, Saina Salonika bagged silver in the under-12 girls’ category while Mahitosh Dey finished with a bronze medal in the under-12 boys’ segment.
In her last match, Padmini defeated N Lokesh of Tamil Nadu to finish with seven points from nine games. Even though she participated in the ‘open’ category where both men and women play together, she finished with the highest number of points among women to bag the gold. Abhijeet Gupta emerged champion in the open category with eight points out of a possible nine.
Meanwhile Saina Salonika drew her last game to finish with 6.5 points and bagged the silver medal. Saina did not lose a single match in the tournament. She accumulated 42 Elo rating points and her current tally stands at approximately 1,747. The final tally will be declared Thursday.
In the senior category, among others, Soumya Swaminathan prevailed over N Jyothilal, while Rakesh Nayak shared points with Ojas Kulkarni to emerge joint fifth and joint sixth respectively. Kiran Manisha Mohanty finished with 4.5 points (joint eighth) after losing to Anish Gandhi in her last match.
In the under-14 open and girls’ category, both Ansuman Samal and Anwesha Mishra finished on joint fourth positions with five points each.
However, Miracle Panda did not have a very good tournament. It was her first international exposure and the nine-year-old did well to finish with 4.5 points in the under-10 category.
Saina’s father Ganeswar Jena stated that he was happy with the way his daughter had performed. ‘She did not lose a single game. That indeed is a remarkable achievement,” stated Ganeswar. Padmini’s dad Dr. Ashok Rout expressed happiness with his daughter’s show.