Michelle Catherina finished off in style to emerge as the worthy champion and led Tamil Nadu’s monopoly of the podium in the National women’s challengers’ chess championship here on Sunday.
Michelle defeated Kerala’s Nimmy George in the 11th and final round for a winning tally of nine points, one clear of teammates P. Priya and J. Saranya.
Michelle, currently on a scholarship from Indian Oil, received a glittering trophy and Rs. 30,000.
The results:
11th round: Michelle Catherina (TN, 9) bt Nimmy George (Ker, 7.5); P. Priya (TN, 8) bt R. Bharathi (TN, 7.5).
C. Sahajasri (AP, 7.5) drew with C. Divyasree (AP, 7.5); J. Saranya (TN, 8) bt Ramya Krishna (AP, 7); Swati Mohota (Ben, 7.5) drew with M. Mahalakshmi (TN, 7.5); Rucha Pujari (Mah, 7.5) bt Hinduja Reddy (AP, 6.5); Bhagyashree Thipsay (Mah, 7.5) bt Mitali Patil (Mah, 6.5); Pallabi Roy (Ben, 7) drew with Amruta Mokal (Mah, 7); S. Harini (TN, 7.5) bt Riya Savant (Goa, 6.5); J. Rajasurya (TN, 7.5) bt G. Sandhya (AP, 6.5).
N. Raghavi (TN, 7) bt Anjana Krishna (Ker, 6); Meenu Rajendran (Ker, 6) lost to A. Akshaya (TN, 7); Madhuri Patil (Mah, 6) lost to R. Salini (AP, 7); G. Lasya (AP, 7) bt A. Kavya (AP, 6); K. Sai Nirupama (AP, 7) bt Madhurima Shekhar (Del, 5.5).
Standings: (the 20 qualifiers for National championship): 1. Michelle, 2-3: Priya, Saranya, 4-13: Swati, Mahalakshmi, Bharathi, Nimmy, Divyashree, Rucha, Bhagyashree, Sahajasri, Rajasurya, Harini, 14-20. Amruta, Pallabi, Salini, Nirupama, Raghavi, Ramya and Lasya.
