Vizag Pride: Queen to D2

Visakhapatnam’s first Woman International Master, 19-year-old Moogi Sahithi Varshini, is back with another achievement, defeating two Grandmasters: Haring Filip of Slovakia at the Arad Grand Prix and Velten Paul of France at the Dole Open Aix-en-Provence tournament. Sahithi holds the FIDE titles of FIDE Master (FM), awarded in 2023; Woman International Master (WIM), awarded in 2022; Woman FIDE Master (WFM), awarded in 2019; and Woman Candidate Master (WCM), awarded in 2017.

FIDE declared 2022 as “Year of the Woman in Chess”. In that context, Sahithi represented India at the 44th Chess Olympiad, held from July 28 to August 10, 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Organised by FIDE, the international chess event consisted of two main tournaments, an Open event, which allowed participation from players of all genders, and a Women’s event, along with several events promoting chess. The Women’s tournament was contested by 800 players representing 162 teams.

The Magnus Academy Challenge, the second stage of the Challengers Chess Tour, took place on October 8 and 9, 2022. The tournament featured 16 top players from their respective age groups, including the world’s youngest Grandmaster, Abhimanyu Mishra. Fifteen-year-old Sahithi was the top finisher among the girl participants, scoring 19/42 to secure ninth place. She also defeated Abhimanyu Mishra in the online tournament, which was marked by tactical play. In addition, she was the runner-up in the Best Female category at the Biel Grandmasters Tournament in Switzerland in 2022. Sahithi has also won gold medals at the U10 Girls Commonwealth Championship and in the U10 and U12 Asian Youth Girls categories, competing in tournaments held in countries including Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Just last month, Sahithi was adjudged the ‘Best Woman Player’ at the Juraflore International Chess Tournament in Les Rousses, France. After facing several International Masters and World Champions, our youngest Queen now moves forward in pursuit of her goal of becoming a Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

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