Soumya gets final IM norm, makes city proud
Pune   07-Aug-2010

Women's Grand Master Soumya Swaminathan of Pune completed her final International Master norm on July 27 at the International open tournament at Balaguer in Spain. Soumya is under scholarship with IndianOil.  Her training for the last six months prior to this event was sponsored by Parimal and Pramod Chaudhari.

This is Soumya's third and final IM norm, after she made her previous norms a year ago, also in tournaments in Spain. In Balaguer, Soumya produced an excellent performance, managing a draw with highly rated GM Drozdovski of Ukraine. In the 7th round she defeated GM Mateo Ramon in a huge upset. She also won encounters against two highly ranked International masters on the way of making IM norm. Soumya will be gaining 29 .5 Elo points from this tournament. The Pune lass narrowly missed her IM norm in her previous tournament atBanasque, Spain, where she earned 12.5 Elo points. She is currently participating in the International Open tournament at Greece. Soumya is the 2nd woman player from Maharashtra after IM Eesha Karavade and 6th woman player from India to achieve this feet. However, she still needs to reach the 2400 elo point mark to complete her International Master title.

Soumya has been training at the Kunte Chess Academy in Kothrud for the past 3 years. Recently she was selected for talent Search Program by Sports Authority of India for Gold medal at the World Junior Championship last year. This is Soumya's first major achievement after winning the World Junior Championship, and these performances will bring her closer to breaking into the Top-100 in the world rankings.