BHUBANESWAR: Odisha's ace chess player IM Padmini Rout is all set to face WGM Fataliyeva Ulviyya of Azerbaijan in the inaugural round of the Women's World Cup in Sochi, Russia on Monday. Going by her ranking and career points, Padmini looks in a better position to dominate the first round.
Padmini qualified on basis of her victory in the Asian Women Continental Championship held at Makati in Philippines in December, 2018. Out of 130 participants, WGM Fataliyeva was seventh in the European Women’s Championship held at Turkey in April 2019.
In her internaional creer, the twenty-seven-year-old participated at the Asian Continental Championships and Commonwealth Championship for six and seven times respectively. She played 48 Indian national championships including the different age group tournaments.
Padmini made her national debut in U-9 National girl’s championship 2003 at Kozhikode. However, she claimed her first national title U-11 nationals at Nagpur in 2005. She created a record by winning three consecutive national U-13 girls championship at Howrah (2005), Bhiwani (2006) and Mumbai(2007).
She participated in National Junior (U 19) Championships nine times, including twice in Boys category. She won the title in 2010.