Hangzhou Para Asian Games: Odisha chess star Soundarya Pradhan wins gold and silver

Odisha’s visually-impaired chess star Soundarya Pradhan secured gold medal in the team rapid VI B1 chess event of the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.

Sondarya also bagged a gold medal in the Individual rapid VI B1 chess event of the mega competition.

Soundarya secured second position in the individual event by scoring 5.5 points from seven rounds which included five wins and one draw. 

It wasn’t a great beginning for Soundarya as he suffered an early setback in the second round in the form of a loss from Dinh Tuan Son Vietnam. However, he quickly brought himself back in the track and scored four victories and a draw in the remaining five games. 

He was in a must win situation against Abdullayev, Amrillo from Uzbekistan (1926) who happened to be the top seed of the event. Playing with black pieces, Soundarya opted for his most preferred French defense and decimated his opponent with a king side pawn storm.

India also managed to win gold medal by scoring 11.5 points out of a possible 14 and remained two points clear of the second placed Iran.

After being out of medal contention in the classical format, in a dramatic turn of event, India made a great recovery in the rapid format by bagging team gold, individual gold, silver, and bronze. Along with the silver of Soundarya, Darpan Inani (Gujurat) and Ashwin Makwana (Gujurat) clinched gold and bronze respectively.