Teenager Saina Salonika Odisha’s Third Woman IM; Know Others To Get The Title

Bhubaneswar: Odisha teenager girl Saina Salonika has sealed the title of Woman International Master (WIM).

According to ChessBase India, Saina secured her final WIM norm at the IM Mix Third Saturday 277 meet at Serbia’s Novi Sad.

Saina earned her first WIM norm at the Goa International GM meet in June 2019 and the second norm in Orbis IM tournament at Serbia’s Paracin in December 2019.

Three norms apart, a player has to achieve a FIDE rating of 2200 to be eligible for the WIM title. Saina gained 24 rating points in last week’s Novi Sad tournament to jump from 2184 to 2208.

Saina will be Odisha’s third female chess player to be WIM, following in the footsteps of Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Padmini Rout.

Kiran Manisha was the first player from Odisha to become WIM in 2006 before earning the prestigious Woman’s Grandmaster (WGM) title in 2010.

Padmini, a four-time National champion, earned the titles of WIM, WGM and IM. The 28=year-old Padmini will represent India in next month’s Chess Olympiad at Chennai.