Chess News
Pune's Soumya Swaminathan won World Junior Chess Championship, she became 3rd Indian girl to achieve this feat after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika ... This will also give her a direct entry to the Women's World Championship.

Soumya was leading in Argentina after 10 rounds ... But a draw in the 11th against Russian Zoja Severiukhina and a heartbreaking loss in the 12th to higher-rated Corri Tello Deysi of Peru [2361] reduce her title hopes ... After 12th round Turkish girl Yildiz Betul Cemre was leading by 0.5 point with 9.0 pts and Soumya & Corri were on second place with 8.5 pts ... In the dramatic final round Soumya clinched the title ... Soumya received help from another Indian girl, Kiran Manisha Mohanty ... Kiran Manisha Mohanty played excellent game without giving any chance to leader Yildiz Betul Cemre, who only managed draw ... Then Soumya defeated another Turkish girl Kübra Öztürk in 36 moves and Corri defeated WGM Iozefina Paulet of Romania ... This makes 3 way tie with 9.5/13 points but Soumya won on better tie-break.

At the u-20 World Junior Chess Championship 2009, Patagonia, Argentina

Girls' Championship - top rankings after thirteen rounds (final)
1 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND [2297] 9.5 (TB. 27314)
2 WIM Cori Tello Deysi PER [2361] 9.5 (TB. 27250)
3 WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre TUR [2224] 9.5 (TB. 27052)
4 WIM Zhang Xiaowen CHN [2391] 9.0 (TB. 27216)
5 WIM Mikadze Miranda GEO [2317] 8.5 (TB. 27071)
6 WIM Severiukhina Zoja RUS [2339] 8.0 (TB. 27135)
7 WGM Paulet Iozefina ROU [2342] 8.0 (TB. 26978)
8 WIM Padmini Rout IND [2331] 8.0 (TB. 26896)
9 WFM Tjolsen Katrine NOR [2178] 8.0 (TB. 26619)
10 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty IND [2153] 8.0 (TB. 26563)