At the 49th National Women's Championship 2023, IM Bhakti Kulkarni from Goa defeated IM Soumya Swaminathan of PSPB to take the lead with 6.5/7. Bhakti performed a stunning staircase pawn break in the middle of the board during a match between two former National Women Champions. IM Bhakti may not have used her advantage to its full potential but her opponent’s wrong move gave her the chance to get control over the match and secure a convincing victory.
In the next matches, WGM Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) defeated WIM Mounika Akshaya Bommini (AP) and WIM Mahalakshmi M (RSPB) secured a win against Rebecca Jesumarian (TN). IM Divya Deshmukh (MAH) suffered her second consecutive defeat against WIM Tejaswini Sagar (GUJ), effectively eliminating her from the match.
The event's defending champion, IM Divya Deshmukh (MAH), lost her game for the second time in a row. Despite being in a better position from the beginning, she made a mistake that ultimately got her to lose the match. WGM Varshini V (TN), IM Eesha Karavade (PSPB), and WIM Sakshi Chitlange (MAH) all drew against WIM Mrudul Dehankar (MAH), Mrittika Mallick (WB), and Sneha Halder (WB), respectively. WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) was defeated by Sarayu Velpula (TEL).
The 8th round of the match has been conducted today at 10:00 a.m. IST.
