It was a day of personal highs and the lead was again shared in the 34th Women’s National A chess championship here. While Kiran Monisha Mohanty (Orissa) earned her maiden Woman’s Grand Master norm and P Priya (Tamil Nadu) made her final Woman’s International Master (WIM) norm, the leader board sported a three-way tie with overnight leader Tania Sachdev being joined by Swati Ghate and Kiran.

Swati Ghate (LIC) and Kiran Mohanty managed to beat Mary Ann Gomes and Nimmy George respectively to join Tania at the top with 6.5 points each. Following closely are top seed IM Dronavalli Harika and WIM Soumya Swaminathan with six points. On the top board, Tania—who took on Soumya Swaminathan—played the white’s side of the King’s Indian Defence and chose the h3, Bg5 line. However, Tania handled the opening miserably and landed herself in a difficult position. Soumya meanwhile won a pawn, but Tania’s double bishop gave her some compensation. But then she erred, which put Tania in a winning position. But she failed to take advantage of the situation and the match ended in a draw.

Results

Round 9: Tania Sachdev (6.5) drew with Soumya Swaminathan (6); Mary Ann Gomes (5.5) lost to Swati Ghate (6.5); Harika Dronavalli (6) drew with Nisha Mohota (5.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (6.5) b Nimmy George (5); Eesha Karavade (5) drew with Divyasri Ch. (5); Sai Meera (4.5) drew with P Priya (5); Pon. Krithika (4) lost to Padmini Rout (5); Amruta Mokal (5) b P Uthra (4); S Nabeela Farheen (3.5) lost to R Aarthie (5); Anuprita Patil (3.5) lost to R Preethi (4); Swati Mohota (4) b Dhyani Dave (3); Rucha Pujari (4) b S Harini (3); M R Sangeetha (3.5) drew with Savetha C H (3); S Athirai.