Calcutta: Defending champion and top seed Padmini Rout of Odisha annexed the Ram Ratna women's national premier chess championship title after posting a win over Tania Sachdev here on Monday.

Playing black, Padmini was content to go for routine exchanges in a Queen's Gambit Declined. Her strategy paid rich dividends for an easy win after Tania faltered in the rook and pawn ending.

Having taken her tally to an unassailable 8.5 points, Padmini will face bottom-ranked K Priyanka on Tuesday in the concluding round. Padmini's nearest rival LIC's Swati Ghate, who beat V Varshini of Tamil Nadu, has 7.5 points. So even a loss in the final round would ensure the first place for Padmini as she has the better tie-breaking SB score.

Swati has her task cut out as she faces Soumya Swaminathan of PSCB in the final round. Three players -Soumya, Bhakti Kulkarni and Pratyusha Bodda -are in the joint third spot.