FULL NAME: Saina Salonika
GENDER: Female
BORN: August 5, 2003
FAMILY: Father (Ganeswar Jena), mother (Babita Jena), sister (Simona).
PERMANENT ADDRESS: Sulan village, Hatadihi block, Keonjhar district, Odisha.
PRESENT ADDRESS: Qrs No VIB-5/2, Unit-III, Bhubaneswar-751001.
TELEPHONE: 9437082266 and 9439082266 (Mobiles), 0674-2507700.
E-MAIL: ganeswar2@yahoo.co.in, ganeswarjena2@gmail.com
EDUCATION: Studied at KIIT International School, Bhubaneswar.
RECEIVED COACHING FROM: S R Patnaik, Arghya Arpan Parida.
HOBBIES: Modeling, anchoring.
FIDE ID: 25013971
FIDE TITLE: Women International Master (WIM)
ELO: 2208 as on 4 June 2022
TOTAL INTERNATIONAL MEDALS: 20 (14 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze) as on 24 October 2021.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:
STATE:
* Finished runner-up in the Odisha State U-20 Girls Online Chess Championship on 20 July, 2021.
* Won the title in the Odisha State Women Online Chess Championship on 18 July, 2021.
* Won the girls title in the Odisha State Under-13 Chess Championship, held at Ajay Binay Institute of Technology in Cuttack from April 17 to 19, 2015.
* Won the title in the girls category of the Odisha State Under-11 Chess Championship at Synergy Institute of Engineering and Technology in Dhenkanal on June 8, 2014.
* Finished third in the State Under-9 Girls Chess Championship at Cuttack August 16, 2010.
* Won the State under-7 girls chess title at Dhenkanal on November 8, 2010.
* Emerged champion in the girls category of the Odisha State Under-9 Chess Championship at Ratna Mandap in Dhenkanal on Sept 2, 2012.
NATIONAL:
* Won both the team and individual (Board 5) Gold medal for Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the 21st National Team Chess Championship for Women, held at SAI Indoor Stadium in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh from 29 March to 4 April 2024.
* Won the bronze medal in the girls’ category of the 34th National U-15 Chess Championship, held at Rajpath Club, Ahmedabad, Gujarat from Oct 1 to 9, 2017.
* She was part of the KIIT University that lifted the trophy in the 18th National Cities Team Chess Championship, held at Kalarabanka village in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha from August 6 to 9, 2017.
* Finished runner-up in the girls’ category of the 30th National U-13 Girls Chess Championship, held at Rajpath Club in Ahmedabad from July 22 to 30, 2016.
* Finished third in the girls category of the 28th National U-11 Chess Championship, held at Puri from July 24 to August 1, 2014.
* Finished runner-up in the 2nd Bhubaneswar Open All-India FIDE Rating (1899 & below) Chess Tournament at Hotel Empires in Bhubaneswar on March 23, 2014.
* Finished fifth in the National Under-7 Girl Chess Championship at Ahmedabad on Dec 24, 2009.
* Won the girls title in the 24th National Under-7 Chess Championship at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand on November 30, 2010.
* Emerged champion in 1200-1400 rating category of the 3rd BCA FIDE Rating (Below 2000) Tournament at Kolkata from on June 15, 2011.
* Won the title in under-9 girls category of the National Schools Chess Championship, held at New Delhi from October to 27 to 29, 2012.
INTERNATIONAL:
* Clinched the Woman International Master (WIM) title by securing her 3rd and final norm in a series of three IM Mix Tournaments, which concluded in Novi Sad, Serbia on 4 June 2022.
* Bagged silver medal in U-18 category of the Asian Youth Online Girls Chess Championship held on Tornelo Platform from 22-24 October 2021.
* Won individual silver medal and team gold medal in under-18 girls category of the Western Asian Youth Online Chess Championship on 20 September 2021.
* Scored her 2nd WIM Norm at IM Round Robin, Orbis-3 2019 Paracin, Serbia on 8 Dec, 2019.
* Won gold medal in U-16 girls blitz and silver medal in standard format of the Western Asian Youth & Junior Chess Championships, held in New Delhi from 6-10 Sept, 2019.
* Won the silver medal in girls category of the 30th National U-17 Chess Championship, held in Ernakulam, Kerala from 29 June-7 July, 2019.
* Won the gold medal in the U-16 girls’ rapid competition of the Asian Youth Chess Championship at Chiangmai in Thailand on April 1, 2018.
* Won the bronze medal in in under -12 girls category of the World Youth Chess Championship, held at Porto Carros Grand Resort in Halkidiki (Greece) from Oct 24 to Nov 5, 2015.
* Secured silver medal in under-12 girls category of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, held at Hotel Park Plaza in New Delhi from June 23 to 30, 2015.
* Achieved a treble by winning three gold medals in girls-12 category of the 16th ASEAN Age Group Chess Championship, held at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore from June 8 to 16, 2015. She pocketed one individual gold in blitz event and two team gold in standard and rapid events.
* Won the under-10 girls` gold medal in the World Youth Chess Championship, held at Al-Alin in United Arab Emirates from Dec 17 to 28, 2013.
* Bagged a gold medal each in under-9 girls` standard and blitz categories of 8th Asian Schools Chess Championship held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from Dec 15 to 19, 2012.
* Won the gold medal in under-10 girls group of the Commonwealth Chess Championships at Chennai on Dec 1, 2012.
* Bagged the bronze medal in under-8 girls` category of the World Youth Chess Championship held at Caldas Novas in Brazil from Nov 17 to 27, 2011.
* Won the best U-8 girl prize in 3rd Odisha GM International Open Chess Tournament held at Bhubaneswar on June 5, 2011.
* Represented India in the under-8 girls category of the Asian Youth Chess Championship, held at Subic in Philippines from May 15 to 21, 2011. She finished fourth among a total of 20 competitors.
* Won gold medal in (U-7) Girls Asian School Chess Festival at Colombo, Srilanka in December 12, 2010.
* Finished 21st in under-8 girls category of the World Youth Chess Championship at Halkidiki in Greece on October 30, 2010.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
* Completed her CBSE Grade-XII exam from KIIT International School, scoring 97.4 per cent marks in September 2021.
* Secured her maiden Woman International Master norm at the 2nd Goa International Open GM Chess Tournament (Category-A) on 25 June, 2019.
* Secured 97.4% marks in her 10th grade CBSE examinations in 2019.
* She was awarded with the Women Fide Master (WFM) title in September, 2016.
* She was felicitated with a cash award of Rs 50,000 by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT) on the occasion of 23rd Ekalavya Award function in Bhubaneswar on Dec 23, 2015.
* All India Chess Federation on Dec 12, 2015 felicitated Saina with a memento, shawl and cash award of Rs 30,000 at Russian Center of Science and Culture in Delhi for winning U-12 girls bronze medal in World Youth Chess Championship, held at Halkidiki, Greece from Oct 24 to Nov 6, 2015.
* Received National Child Award for exceptional achievements from President Pranab Mukherjee at Rastrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Nov 14, 2014.
* Received the Kumudini Krida Prativa Award and Rs 10,000 in Bhubaneswar on July 14, 2014.
* On June 18, 2014, Government Odisha sanctioned in her favour a monetary incentive of Rs 1,15,000, which included Rs 15,000 for participation in the 2011 Asian Youth Chess Championship at Subic in Philippines and Rs 1 lakh for winning a bronze medal in the 2011 World Youth Chess Championship at Caldas Novas in Brazil.
* On June 14, 2014, he received a cheque of Rs 50,000 from Siksha `O` Anusandhan University for winning the under-10 girls` title in the World Youth Championship at Al-Alin in UAE in 2013.
* Received a cash incentive of Rs 30,000 at the 6th annual felicitation ceremony of All Odisha Chess Association in Bhubaneswar on March 16, 2014.
* On Dec 31, 2013, KIIT announced to provide her free education KIIT International School.
* KIIT provided a financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to enable her participate in the World Youth Chess Championship at UAE, where she won the u-10 girls’ title on Dec 28, 2013.
* Mahanadi Coalfields Limited felicitated her with a cheque of Rs 50,000 at Bhubaneswar on May 12, 2013.
* Became the youngest FIDE rated girl of Odisha with initial rating of 1342 at the age of six years and 10 months on July 1, 2010.
* Became the youngest Odia girl to get the Women Candidate Master (WCM) title in the month of March 2012.
* Felicitated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on May 17, 2012 for becoming the youngest Odia girl to get the Women Candidate Master (WCM) title.
PROFILE FIRST UPLOADED: 18 December 2011
PROFILE LAST UPDATED: 4 April 2024