A Role Model: Soumya Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan , a role model for budding chess players
Published: Tuesday, Jan 18, 2011, 11:50 IST
By Ashish Phadnis | Place: Pune | Agency: DNA

Soumya Swaminathan has checkmated many in her 21 years. A three-time national junior (under-19) chess champion, Soumya became a world junior champion in March 2009 and Woman Grandmaster in the same year.

In fact, when she bagged the world junior title, she became only the third Indian girl after Grandmaster Koneru Humpy and Woman Grandmaster, Dronavalli Harika, to achieve the rare feat.

Last week, Soumya won the senior national title in Bhubaneshwar and has become a role model for budding chess players in the city.

Presently, sitting pretty with an ELO rating of 2353, she is considered he fifth strongest woman chess playerin the country.

However, Soumya has a big appetite. The DES Law College student is already gunning for the Men’s International Master (IM) title. Having completed the basic norms, she is working towards a 2400 ELO rating. Born in Palakkad, Kerala, in 1989, Soumya grew up in Aurangabad and now resides in Pune. Sadly, she had to bear the tragic loss of her mother in an accident at a very young age.

However, the brave girl has continued to win laurels in chess despite the loss of a parent.

Soumya, who is under a scholarship with the Indian Oil Corporation, has seen her ELO ranking rise from 2140 to 2315 in a very short time. Soumya, who hopes to get a foreign coach soon, wants to become a world champion. “It is a long path ahead,” she says.

37th Premier National Women Chess Championship

Final standings after Round 11:

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2332	MAH	8,5	65,0	60,0	57,0
2	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2302	MAH	8,0	64,5	60,5	56,0
3	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2306	WB	8,0	64,5	60,0	56,0
4	WGM	Padmini Rout	IND	2352	ORI	7,5	65,5	60,5	57,0
5	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2385	DEL	7,0	66,5	61,5	58,0
6	WGM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2325	PSPB	7,0	65,0	60,0	56,5
7		Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2086	AP	6,0	65,0	60,0	56,5
8	IM	Karavade Eesha	IND	2369	MAH	5,5	64,5	60,5	56,0
9	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2230	ORI	5,5	58,5	54,5	50,5
10	WFM	Bharathi R	IND	2111	TN	5,5	58,5	54,5	50,0
11		Harini S	IND	2063	TN	5,5	54,5	50,5	46,0
12		Aparajita Gochhikar	IND	1871	AICF	5,5	53,5	49,5	45,5
13		Arunima Kalra	IND	1866	DEL	5,5	51,0	47,0	43,0
14	WFM	Swati Mohota	IND	2090	WB	5,0	62,5	58,5	54,0
15	WFM	Pujari Rucha	IND	2114	MAH	5,0	55,0	52,0	46,5
16		Amrutha Mokal	IND	2089	MAH	5,0	52,5	48,5	45,5
17		A Akshaya	IND	2022	TN	5,0	51,0	48,0	44,0
18		Preethi R	IND	2073	TN	5,0	51,0	48,0	43,5
19		Rathore Sonakshi	IND	1971	RAJ	4,5	50,0	47,0	42,0
20	WFM	Saranya J	IND	2123	TN	4,0	58,5	55,5	50,5
21		Sithalatchumi A	IND	1917	TN	4,0	53,0	50,0	45,0
22		Shweta Gole	IND	1906	MAH	4,0	48,5	45,5	43,0
23		Minki Sinha	IND	1880	BIH	3,0	48,0	44,0	42,5
24		Nivedhitha J G	IND	1819	AICF	2,5	47,0	43,0	41,5

The top finishers are a "who's who" of the best Indian female chessplayers, but I can't help but notice that their ELOs are declining from what they used to be, when they should be going in the other direction.  Welcome to the ghetto of women's chess.  Tania Sachdev's ELO used to be above 2400.  And where were Dronavalli, Koneru and either (or both) of the Subbaraman sisters? 

WGm Soumya Swaminathan's Time to Shine

From The Times of India:
Chance for junior champ Soumya to shine
Amit Karmarkar, TNN, Nov 30, 2010, 01.52am IST

PUNE: When Soumya Swaminathan won the World junior girls chess title last year in Argentina in a somewhat depleted field, she got two well-earned gifts apart from three trophies.

The first one was a berth in Corus 'C' tournament at Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands) in January this year. She didn't make the most of it and tallied just three points in 13 rounds to finish last.

The second one will unfold in Antakya ( Turkey) from December 4 when she takes on world No. 16 Polish GM Monika Socko in the first round of the Women's World chess championship (knockout format).

"The World junior title was fantastic for me," said the 21-year-old International Master (IM) norm holder and the winner of this year's Sahara Young Female Achiever of the Year award. "It gave me recognition and confidence. I have become more serious about the game. Corus influenced me a lot. Just looking at the top players' preparation and psychology was a great experience.

"I had had some bad results. But I was not sure of my calculations on the board then. But now I have realised the importance of calmness," she said. "I played National 'B' because I was getting bored at home."

The second year law student seems to be good at multi-tasking. She had one eye on her ailing grandmother's room, trying to absorb the doctor's instructions. At the same time, she was trying to make the mediaperson comfortable.

"For a change, she didn't say she would be taking one match at a time."I have seen the entire draw. If I win the first round, I play the winner of Zhu Chen (former World champion) and Nafisa Muminova. "My first match would quite likely go to tie-break (rapid, blitz etc)," she said without fear of being politically incorrect.

"I would be quite happy with a draw. She's (Monika Socko) a GM. You feel more motivated against a better player. I get quite tense when I don't know an opponent. Of course I have prepared for all my opponents."

Soumya Swaminathan, India's Newest WGM

Congratulations to Soumya! Pune girl becomes state’s third woman Grandmaster Express News Service Posted online: Friday , August 22, 2008 at 12:40:27 Pune, August 21 City-based Soumya Swaminathan became the country's 11th woman Grandmaster when she made her third and final WGM norm at the Benasque Open Chess tournament at Spain last month. Soumya scored 6.5 points out of 10 rounds and was also judged the best woman player of the tournament. She is also the third WGM from Maharashtra and also from Pune, behind Swati Ghate-Teli and Eesha Karavade. Swaminathan made her first WGM norm in July last year at the Balaguer Open which was also held in Spain, while her second WGM norm came four months later at the Women's National A, held in Pune last November. She had tied for first place in the tournament, and was placed third on tiebreak, which assured her a place in the Indian team. She had also crossed the 2,300 rating mark in this year's January Rating list, which is a requirement for becoming a WGM apart from getting three WGM norms. Swaminathan played three tournaments in Spain last month, as part of the Indian junior girls team, and gained a total of 25 Fide rating points from the whole tour. Soumya had become a WIM in the same tour last year, where she had made a total of five norms, which included three WIM norms, one WGM and an IM norm. Though she started playing chess at an early age of eight, major results started coming in after 2004 when she won the U-17 National girls title. She went on to win the national junior girls title for 2005 and 2006. Last year was a fantastic run for Soumya when she not only became a WIM but also earned herself a place in the Indian Women's team and gained around 150 points in two rating lists. Soumya had infact narrowly missed her third WGM norm at the Commonwealth championship last year. At the international level, she has three bronze medals from various age group Asian championships and 1 silver medal in the junior category from the Commonwealth Chess championship 2006. Soumya was initially coached by Anjali Palande Sagar and was later trained by I M Arun Vaidya. She is currently practising in Kunte's Chess Academy where she works with other Pune players like Amruta Mokal and Eesha Karavade. The 19-year-old is a final year B.Com student in BMCC and is under scholarship from Indian Oil Corporation for the past two years. Her future tournaments include Commonwealth Chess championship, which will be held in September 2008 at Nagpur and Women's National A in December.