Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Soumya Swaminathan, an employee with PSPB, is a former National Champion (2011), World Junior Championship title winner (2009), Commonwealth Women’s Champion (2012) and has finished second in the 2016 Moscow Open. The 28-year-old WGM is one of the top women chess players’ in the country, and the top-seed in the ongoing 44th National Women’s Challengers Chess Championships-2017 being held at Mysore Sports Club in city. SOM Sports Correspondent caught up with Soumya on the side-lines of the Tourney yesterday. Excerpts:

By C.K. Muralidharan

SOM: How did you feel after winning the 2011 National Championships and then the Commonwealth title in 2012?

Soumya: I felt elated after winning the National Championships and the Commonwealth title in a row in successive years. I was happy I could play some fighting games and ended up on the winning note.

SOM: What next from all your feats?

Soumya: I do not have any specific targets. I intend to play well in the forthcoming competition and put up a good show. I want to take it as it comes and work hard for success.

SOM: Any specific preparations for this Championship?

Soumya: Not really. I concentrated on my fitness and prepared myself mentally with some meditation and yoga sessions before coming to Mysuru.

SOM: When was your first Olympiad representation for India and your performance in the Olympiads represented so far?

Soumya: My first Olympiad was in 2012 at Turkey. I started badly in the Tournament but came back to win some important games. It was a good experience. In 2016, at Azerbaijan, I played really well and the Indian team finished 5th. I think we need a good Grand Master coach and if given that support we can achieve much more success.

SOM: Your best performance so far?

Soumya: My World Juniors win, my National Championship win in 2011, Asian Games bronze medal are all close to my heart and all of these sum my best performances so far.

SOM: About support from PSPB?

Soumya: They have been giving excellent support and are fantastic and very helpful. I play without pressure for the sake of chess and am thankful to them for splendid support.

“If given a good Grand Master coach, we can achieve much more success”

SOM: About your future?

Soumya: As mentioned earlier, I have no specific goal. Of-course, I want to become a Grand Master. I would like to move step by step towards that goal and continue playing some fighting and interesting games to improve as a overall player.

SOM: About your coach?

Soumya: Presently I work on my own. I take specific coaching from GM Abhijit Kunte.

SOM: About the support from AICF?

Soumya: They have been conducting more number of Tournaments, but they need to have more women-specific Tournaments on Round-Robin basis and introduce chess league. If they provide us with a good Grand Master coach it would be helpful to achieve more success.