Arpita Mukherjee will headline Indian Oil 51st National Women Chess Championship 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 02/12/2025

A total of 141 players including an IM, 8 WGMs and 5 WIMs are set to battle at 51st National Women Chess Championship 2025. West Bengal's very own - WIM Arpita Mukherjee is the top seed, WGM Sarayu Velpula second and WGM Priyanka Nutakki third. The defending champion, WGM Nandhidhaa P V will also be seen in action. India's second GM in history - Dibyendu Barua and the Commonwealth 2025 Women Silver medalist, WGM Mary Ann Gomes answered various questions at the Press Conference with organizing team and various officials. The total prize fund is ₹3000000. The top three prizes are ₹700000, ₹550000 and ₹450000 each. Round 1 starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Nandhidhaa set to defend her crown

The winner of the tournament will earn a spot at the next FIDE Women's World Cup. This was announced at the Press Conference. The event is organized by Sara Bangla Daba Sangstha from 3rd to 13th December 2025 at Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium in Durgapur, West Bengal. The inauguration ceremony will take place at 12 p.m. IST tomorrow, followed by players meeting and Round 1 at 2 p.m. IST.

GM Dibyendu Barua and WGM Mary Ann Gomes answered various questions at the Press Conference with the organizing team and officials

Press Conference (Bangla and English audio) | Video: ChessBase India

WIM Arpita Mukherjee (WB) will be the top seed of the event

India's 26th WGM Sarayu Velpula (TEL)

Asian Continental Women 2022 Silver medalist - WGM Priyanka Nutakki (AP) will be the third seed | Photo: Anniken Vestby

4th seed - FM Sherali Pattnaik (UTT) | Photo: Chess Federation of Sri Lanka

5th seed - National Junior 2023 Girls champion, WFM Shubhi Gupta (UP)

The defending champion - WGM Nandhidhaa P V (TN) is the sixth seed

Commonwealth 2025 Women Gold medalist - WGM Srija Seshadri (TN) will be the seventh seed | Photo: Commonwealth Chess Championship 2025

Commonwealth 2025 Women Silver medalist - WGM Mary Ann Gomes will be the eighth seed | Photo: Commonwealth Chess Championship

The newly crowned 41st National Sub-Junior Girls 2025 champion - WFM Arshiya Das (TRI) is slated to be the ninth seed | Photo: Aakash Sadhwani

Former National Junior Girls champion - WIM Srishti Pandey is the tenth seed | Photo: Dubai Chess and Culture Club

For more press conference photos, please click here.

Players list

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	WIM	Arpita, Mukherjee	5056403	IND	2301
2	WIM	Velpula, Sarayu	45075204	IND	2296
3	WGM	Priyanka, Nutakki	25049615	IND	2292
4	FM	Sherali, Pattnaik	25789449	IND	2270
5	WFM	Shubhi, Gupta	25195425	IND	2259
6	WGM	Nandhidhaa, P V	5050847	IND	2257
7	WGM	Srija, Seshadri	5055903	IND	2251
8	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	5013623	IND	2243
9	WFM	Arshiya, Das	25652150	IND	2232
10	WIM	Pandey, Srishti	35093290	IND	2219
11	WIM	Chitlange, Sakshi	35002899	IND	2193
12	WFM	Kalyani, Sirin	33323500	IND	2182
13	WFM	Kheerthi, Ganta	25626280	IND	2177
14	WGM	Varshini, V	5091241	IND	2170
15	WFM	Sneha, Halder	25693263	IND	2160
16	IM	Mohota, Nisha	5004330	IND	2144
17	WCM	Swara, Lakshmi S Nair	25629239	IND	2113
18	WFM	Sachi, Jain	25974050	IND	2080
19	WFM	Saranya, J	5031931	IND	2037
20	WGM	Swati, Ghate	5003474	IND	2036

Details

Links

Sara Bangla Daba Sangstha: Official site and fb page

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