FULL NAME: Padmini Rout (Also known as Sanu)
BORN: January 5, 1994
GENDER: Female
DAUGHTER OF: Dr Ashok Kumar Rout (Father), Sasmita Dhal (Mother).
HOME ADDRESS: Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION: Commerce graduate from BJB College, Bhubaneswar.
PROFESSION: Serving in Indian Oil Corporation Limited as an officer since January, 2016.
TITLE: International Master (IM), Woman Grandmaster (WGM)
FIDE RATING: 2336 by February, 2011
FIDE ID NO: 5029295
IDOL: Mikhile Tal and Viswanathan Anand
HOBBIES: Reading story book and painting
TWITTER HANDLE: @acciochess
AWARDS/HONOURS:
* On Sept 4, 2014, she was felicitated by the AICF for winning gold medal in the Women’s Olympiad board five at Tromso, Norway. India Cements Ltd MD N Srinivasan, who graced felicitation ceremony at Chennai as chief guest, handed over a cash award of Rs 60,000 to Padmini.
* The Press Club of Odisha honoured her with the Sprit of Sports Award and a cheque of Rs 25,000 in Bhubaneswar on October 27, 2013.
* Received the Biju Patnaik State Sports Award as the Outstanding Sportsperson of the Year 2007 and cheque of Rs 1 lakh at Bhubaneswar on March 5, 2011.
* Received the 16th Ekalabya Award along with a cheque of Rs l lakh as the outstanding sportsperson of the year 2008 from IMPaCT at Bhubaneswar on August 30, 2009.
COACHING:
* She was coached for two years by Satya Ranjan Pattnaik and occasionally by IMs Neeraj Kumar Mishra and Sekhar Chandra Sahu.
* Received coaching from Ukraine GM Georgy Timoschenko twice in 2008 and 2009.
* Participated in the Grand Master coaching camp, conducted by AICF at Calicut from Feb 6 to March 5, 2004.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:
STATE:
* Finished runner-up at the 1st State Blitz Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on May 24, 2009.
* Won the title at the State Women ‘B’ Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on 8 and 9 May, 2007.
* Won the girls title at the State U-19 Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on 30 and 31 July, 2006.
* Won the Girls title at State U-17 Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on 16-17 July, 2006.
* Won the title at the State Sub-junior(U-15) Open Championship, held in Puri from 7-9 June, 2006.
* Won the title at the State U-13 Girls Chess Championship, held in Puri from 5-7 June, 2006.
* Won the title at the State U-19 Open Boys & Girls Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on 23-24 October, 2005.
* Won the title in the State U-11 Boys & Girls Chess Championship, held in Puri on 13-14 August, 2005.
* Won the title in the State Women Chess Championship, held in Puri in June, 2005.
* Won the U-12 Girls title at the 45th Orissa State Chess Championship, held in Rourkela from June 4 to 9, 2005.
* Won the title at the 15th State Junior (U-19) Girls Chess Championship, held in Bhubaneswar on 18 and 19 March, 2005.
* Won the title at the State Under-13 Chess Championship, held in Puri from 13 to 15 Nov, 2004.
* Won the title at the State Under-17 Chess Championship, held in Rourkela from 5-8 Sept, 2004.
* Won the title at the State Under-11 Chess Cchampionship, held in Cuttack on 6 and 7 Dec, 2003.
* Won the title at the State Under-9 Chess Championship, held in Nayagarh from 27-29 August, 2003.
NATIONAL:
* Won the title for the 5th time in the National Women Chess Championship, the 49th edition of which concluded at Rajpath Club in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 10 July 2023.
* Won Team Gold and Individual Silver (Board 2) at the 18th National Team Chess Championship for Women, held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 7-13 February, 2020.
* Helped Petroleum Sports Promotion Board win gold medal at the 16th National Team Chess Championship for Women, held at KIIT University in Bhubaneswar from 8-14 Feb, 2018.
* Won the 4th successive title and the top prize of Rs 1.75 lakh in the National Women Premier Chess Championship, the 44th edition of which was held at Surat (Gujarat) from 25 Nov to 6 Dec, 2017.
* Achieved a glorious hat-trick by winning the title for the third successive time at the 43rd National Women Premier Chess Championship, held at Punjab Bhawan in New Delhi from Nov 3 to 14, 2016.
* Led Petroleum Sports Promotion Board to title triumph at the 14th National Team Chess Championship for Women, held at KIIT Law School in Bhubaneswar from 8 to 14 Feb, 2016. She also pocketed the individual top-board prize.
* Retained the title at the National Women Premier Chess Championship, held in Kolkata from 12 to 24 Nov, 2015.
* Won her maiden title at the National Women Premier Chess Championship, the 48th edition of which was held at Sangli in Maharashtra from 25 Oct to 5 Nov, 2014.
* Won the title at the 25th Junior (U-19) Girls National Chess Championship in Puri on 9 October 2010.
* Finished runner-up at the 24th National Junior (U-19) Girls Chess Championship in Chennai on 28 Sept 2009.
* Became the first Orissa girl to qualify for National `A` by finishing ninth in the National `B` Championship in Kolkata on 24 August, 2009.
* Finished U-20 girls runner-up at the Junior National Chess Championship, held in Tedapalligudem, Andhra Pradesh from 3-11 Nov, 2008.
* Achieved a hat-trick by winning the National U-13 girls title for the third time in a row at Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai, December 2007 to January 2008.
* Finished runner-up in Women National ‘B’ Chess Championship, held in Hyderabad from 21-28 May, 2007.
* Won the National U-13 girls title in Bhiwani, Haryana in December, 2006.
* Won the title at the National U-13 Girls Chess Championship, held in Kolkata from Dec 2005 to January 2006.
* Won the title at the 19th National U-11 Boys & Girls Chess Championship, held in Nagpur, Maharashtra from 24-30 Sept, 2005.
INTERNATIONAL:
* She was part of the India-2 Women Team that finished eighth in the 44th Chess Olympiad, held at Mahavalipuram, Chennai from 28 July to 10 August 2022.
* Bowed out in the second round of the 1st FIDE Women World Cup, losing both the rapid tie-break games to Iranian IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in Sochi, Russia on 17 July, 2021.
* She was part of the Indian women team that won the Gold medal in the Asian Nations (Regions) Online Cup Chess Tournament, held from 23-25 October, 2020.
* Finished runner-up in the Sydney International Open Chess Tournament, held at Macquarie University in Sydney (Australia) from 24-28 April, 2019.
* Gold medal in women’s section of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championship, held at Makati, Philippines from Dec 10-18, 2018.
* Three team medals (gold in blitz, silver in rapid and bronze in classical) and two individual medals (silver and bronze) in the Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship, held at Hamedan in Iran from July 26 to August 4, 2018.
* Bronze medal in women’s rapid team event (partner Tania Sachdev) of the 5th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, held at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from September 17 to 27, 2017.
* One individual bronze medal each in women rapid and blitz events of the Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship, held at Novotel Hotel in Abu Dhabi from March 28 to April 8, 2016.
* Silver medal in Chinese Chess Team Tournament, held at Zhongshan, China from 11th to 16th July, 2015.
* Gold medal in women category of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Hotel Park Plaza in New Delhi, India from 22nd to 30th June, 2015.
* Secured the International Master (IM) title and first Grand Master (GM) norm in the Masters category of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, held at Caleta Hotel in Gibralter (England) from January 27 to February 5, 2015.
* Gold medal on Board-5 in women section of the 41st Chess Olympiad, held at Tromso, Norway from 1st to 14th August, 2014.
* Emerged Champion in Chess for Girls, Asia 2014, Rapid Tournament, held at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 1st to 8th July, 2014.
* Bagged four medals Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship, held at Tabriz, Iran from 20th to 30th May, 2014. Medals included Gold on Board 2 of women team blitz competition, Silver on Board 3 of women team rapid competition, Silver on Board 5 of women team standard competition and Bronze on Board 5 of women standard competition.
* Gold medal in U-18 girls category of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Chennai, India from 22nd Nov to 1st Dec, 2012.
* Secured her third and final IM norm at the Philadelphia International Tournament in the USA on 4 July, 2012.
* Gold medal on Board 5 in Blitz event, bronze medal in team event and bronze medal on Board 5 Women Team event of the Women Team Chess Championship, held in Asian Nations Chess Cup, held at Zao Zhuang, China from 14th to 25th May, 2012.
* Bronze medal in World Junior Girls Chess Championship, held at Chotowa, Poland from 2nd to 17th Aug, 2010.
* Bronze medal in Asian Junior Girls Chess Championship, held at Chennai, India from 15th to 23rd June, 2010.
* Secured the WGM norm and the title at the 2nd SCS Open GM Tournament in Bhubaneswar on May 29, 2010.
* Gold medal in U-16 girls category of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Delhi, India from 10th to 18th May, 2010.
* Gold medal in Asian Junior (U-20) Girls Chess Championship, held at Colombo, Sri Lanka from 1st to 8th July, 2009.
* Gold medal in World U-14 Girls Chess Championship held at Vungtau, Vietnam from Oct 18-30, 2008.
* Silver medal in U-14 girls category of the Nagpur Mayors Cup Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Nagpur, India from Sept 28 to Oct 6, 2008.
* Gold medal in Asian U-14 Girls Chess Championship, held at Teheran, Iran from July 15-22, 2008.
* Silver medal in Asian Junior Girls Chess Championship, held at Mumbai from Dec 13-21, 2007.
* Gold medal in U-14 girls category of the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at New Delhi, India from 2nd to 10th Dec 2007.
* Became the youngest and second Woman International Master of Orissa by obtaining her third and final norm in the World Junior (under-20) Girls` Championship at Yerevan in Armenia in October 2007. She, however, finished 28th in the final standings.
* Certificate of Title Result, 2nd WIM Norm in 12th Open International Tournament, held at Balaguer, Spain Chess from July 16-25, 2007.
* Bronze medal in Asian Girls U-16 Chess Championship, held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan from June 27-July 8, 2007.
* Gold medal in Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Mumbai, India from Nov 19-29, 2006.
* Gold medal in U-12 girls category of Asian Youth Chess Championship, held at Tehran, Iran from June 23-July 1, 2006.
* Bronze medal in Women International Rating Tournament, held at Sangli, Maharashtra from May 24-30, 2006.
* Gold medal in the U-12 girls category of the Asian Youth Chess Championship, held at New Delhi from Dec 7-15, 2005.
OTHER IMPORTANT DATA:
* Tied the nuptial knot with Mumbai-based IT professional Jaikishin Mankani in Bhubaneswar on 28 January 2024.
* On 20 July 2023, Odisha Government felicitated her with a cash award of Rs 60,000 for winning the title at the 49th National Womens Chess Championship in Ahmedabad.
* She is the first and only Indian woman to have won individual Gold medal in history of Chess Olympiad.
* On Feb 6, 2016, Housing & Urban Development Department of Government of Odisha named her as one of the five Brand Ambassadors of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
* She reads Gita everyday and as per Krishna`s instruction tries to take the good and bad equally.
* Hard work has been the secret of her success. She practices eight to 10 hours a day and six days a week.
* Padmini’s father, Dr Ashok Rout, took a year’s leave (in August 2009) from his profession as a lecturer in chemistry to give his daughter’s career a fruitful shape.
* Became a Woman Fide Master (WFM) by virtue of bagging the title in the Asian under-12 championship at New Delhi in December, 2005.
* Star Consultancy Services signed a three-year contract (2008 to 2011) to bear the cost of her coaching and participation in open international tournaments.
* With just a month’s effort, she secured 82 per cent marks in her high school board examination in 2009.
* Padmini is not a good eater and forgets food when engaged in a game.
* Received special cash award of Rs 2.9 lakhs from the Central Government for her international medal winning performances in 2008.
PROFILE FIRST UPLOADED: 12 August 2008
PROFILE LAST UPDAED: 9 February 2024