PNN
Bhubaneswar, Sept 6: Saina Salonika of Orissa was awarded the Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) title by the world chess governing body FIDE, Tuesday. In a mail to the All India Chess Federation (AICF), FIDE informed about conferring the title to Saina.
A visibly elated Saina said in the evening that she is very happy. “I am delighted,” stated that 12-year-old. “Now I am targetting the Women’s International Master (WIM) title. I know that I will have to work very hard for it, but I am prepared to grind it out,” she added.
Currently with an ELO Rating of 2,093 points Saina has become the No.1 ranked national player in her age group. She is also the No. 1 in Asia in the under-13 segment. She is the third-ranked player in the state, after Padmini Rout and Kiran Manisha Mohanty.
Saina had earlier become World Champion in the U-10 category in 2013 in Dubai. She also got a gold medal in the Commonwealth Chess Championships in her age group in 2012. Besides being national champion in her current age age group, Saina has won 10 international medals so far in her career. In 2012, she became the youngest Oriya player to get the title of Woman Candidate Master (WCM).
Saina’s father Ganeswar Jena informed that from now on Saina’s job would become very difficult as she embarks on her mission to get the WIM, WGM (Women’s Grandmaster), IM (International Master) and finally GM (Grandmaster) titles. “For each of these titles, she will have to get a minimum of three norms,” stated Ganeswar. “She will only get the norms by playing against higher-ranked players and by achieving at least a draw against them.”
Saina currently is a class VIII student of KIIT International School. She will be leaving for Russia September 20 to play in the World Youth Chess Championships in Russia. However, her father informed that this is not a norm tournament. “Two players from Orissa will be going for the event – Saina and Anwesha Mishra,” informed Ganeswar. “Saina will be playing in the under-14 category which is not a norm event. Had she played in the under-16 segment, then she could have become a norm contender,” he added.
