Pune girl Soumya crowned National women's Challengers champion

Soumya Swaminathan registered a comfortable win over Monnisha GK with black pieces to lift the 40th National Women Challengers Chess championship here today.
The Pune girl, who is supported by Lakshya-FLAME, needed a win in the 11th and final round today to ensure the title and she achieved her goal after 33 moves when her opponent resigned. Soumya finished with 9 points from 11 rounds.
The second seed had jumped to sole lead on Friday after beating top seed Padmini Rout with Nisha Mohota and Monnisha half a point behind.
With Soumya and Monnisha facing off on the top board, Soumya needed a victory to ensure that even Nisha did not catch up with her and she did just that.

"This tournament turned out to be a fantastic outing for me. I managed to win my last three matches and ensure the title," said Soumya, who registered seven victories and played out two draws in the competition.