Bhubaneswar: WFM Saina Salonika of Odisha bagged a silver medal in the National U-17 Girls’ Chess Championships which concluded Sunday at Kochi. By finishing second in the tournament Saina also sealed her spot in the Indian team for the World Youth Chess Championships to be played at Romania.
Saina finished with eight points winning five games while drawing the remaining five. She remained unbeaten during the tournament. Samriddha Ghosh of West Bengal took gold with 8.5 points while B Kalyani of Andhra Pradesh took the bronze.
“I could have done better if I had converted those draws into victories. But I am happy with the result. I wasn’t well during the tournament as I was suffering from fever. Also I was out for eight months from chess as I was preparing for my CBSE Class X exams,” said the XIth standard student KIIT International School.
Saina has a total of 15 international medals including the U-10 World Championship title. She has also fetched national medals in various age categories.
PNN