Patna: The Bihar State Women Chess Championship kicked off on Friday at the Bihar School of Chess, situated within the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna.

A total of 57 women players hailing from various districts including Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Purnia, Buxar, Bhojpur, Saharsa, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Bettiah, and Begusarai, alongside participants from Patna, are competing in this seven-round tournament. The inaugural ceremony took place this morning with Bihar State Sports Authority Director General Raveendran Sankaran inaugurating the event by engaging in a game with young player Naila Shahab. Among the dignitaries present were All Bihar Chess Association President Diljit Khanna, Secretary Dharmendra Kumar, Vice President Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary cum Chief Arbiter of the tournament Nand Kishore, and Jaiprakash Sinha.

Following the two rounds played today, twelve players emerged as joint leaders with two points each.

In the second round, the tournament’s top-seeded player Maryam Fatima secured victory on the top board against Arya Sinha of Begusarai. Neha Singh, playing with black pieces on the second board, defeated Aishwarya Shukla, while Minky Sinha triumphed over Shagun Raj on the third board. Adiba Ullah secured a win against Shreya Sagar on the fourth board, and Shweta Kumari of Purnia defeated Ankita Raj on the fifth board. Rashmi Priya of Vaishali emerged victorious over Simran Kumari of Bhojpur on the sixth board, and Prerna of Saharsa defeated Shreya Kumari of Buxar on the seventh board. Pari Sinha won against Shreyasi Sinha of Patna on board eight, while Trisha Ranjan of Patna secured victory over Mohini Pandit of Saran on board nine. Krutika Ranjan defeated Vriddhi Basotia on board ten, and Manisha Yadav of Darbhanga triumphed over Varija Jaiswal of Bettiah on board twelve. On board thirteen, Arpita Singh of Bhojpur defeated Vagisha Jaiswal of Bettiah, while the match between Tanya Sharma and Shanvi Prakash on board eleven remained inconclusive.