Calcutta: Top seed and defending champion Padmini Rout of Odisha was held to a draw by the world U-14 girls champion, R. Vaishali, of Tamil Nadu, in the opening round of the Ram Ratna National Women's Premier Chess Championship, here on Friday.
The 12-player round-robin league, being held under the aegis of Bengal Chess Association, will continue till November 24.
In another tense struggle between two former champions, Tania Sachdev of Air-India drew with Soumya Swaminathan of PSCB.
WGM Swati Ghate of LIC opened her campaign in style, defeating Priyanka Nutakki of AP in a King's Indian attack.
In another one-sided affair, V Varshini of Tamil Nadu got the better of her teammate K. Priyanka in 30 moves, with the black pieces, in a Sicilian Defence. Pratyusha Bodda of Andhra Pradesh got the better of Neha Singh of Bihar.
