Akasha wins Bihar state women chess title

Patna, June 20, 2011: Saharsa girl Akasha clinched Bihar state women chess championships crown with 4.5 points at the end of the fifth and final round play at the Moinul Haq Stadium hall here on Monday.

Akasha, who entered the tournament as a dark horse caused two major upsets defeating defending champion Minki Sinha in the third round and last year’s runner-up Pammi Rani in the fourth round.

Darbhanga’s Smita Choudhary played brilliantly on the concluding day of the meet and finished fourth in the overall standing. She won her last three-round matches to make an entry into the Bihar team.

There was five-way tie for the second position as five players collected 3.5 points. Progressive scores rule was applied to decide the second, third and fourth place winners. National women’s “A” player Pammi Rani was declared the runner-up of the event.

Baleshwar Prasad, who was the chief guest in the closing function, gave away the prizes.

Final standings: 1-Akasha (4.5), 2-Pammi Rani (3.5), 3-Minki Sinha (3.5), 4-Smita Choudhary (3.5), 5-Shrishti Gautam (3.5), 6-Aditi Aditya (3.5), 7-Ankita Raj (3), 8-Kumari Shrishti (3), 9-Sandhya Srivastva (3) and 10-Lakshmi Kumari (2.5).