India's best to feature National Premier Women's Chess

India's top 12 players will vie for top honours in the 42nd National Premier Women's Chess Championship at the Bengal gallery of ICCR from November 12-24.
International Master Padmini Rout of Odisha with an 2437 Elo rating points will be the top-ranked participant and will look to defend her title.
Delhi's IM Tania Sachdev is second in the ranking list followed by WGM Soumya Swaminathan of Pune as the top 12 will battle it out against each other in a round robin format of 11 rounds.
The meet also features the talented WFM R Vaishali, who recently World Youth title in Greece.

The National Challenger Women's title holder has been invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan for special award on the Children's Day (November 14), organising secretary Ashok Motwani said.
"It is the biggest women event in the country. The meet assumes greater significance as the top six will represent India in various overseas tournaments," Motwani said.

The winner of the Rs 6 lakh prize money tournament will bag Rs 175,000, while the runner-up will be richer by Rs 100,000 as each of the participant will get cash awards.
The field:
IM Padmini Rout (2437); IM Tania Sachdev (2385); WGM Soumya Swaminathan (2357); WFM R Vaishali (2298); WGM Bhakti Kulkarni (2257); WIM Pratyusha Bodda (2248); WIM Michelle Catherina (2242); WGM Swati Ghate (2230); V Varshini (2163); Neha Singh (2024); Priyanka K (2011); Priyanka Nutakki (1994).