In terms of sheer numbers this is not the strongest national women's premier that you would see, but the 44th Iwasa National Women's Premier is definitely an event that will be keenly contested especially because you have Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan and Bhakti Kulkarni - all players above 2300 Elo.
Starting player's rank:
| No. | Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | |
| 2 | WGM | Gomes Mary Ann | 5013623 | IND | 2333 |
| 8 | IM | Padmini Rout | 5029295 | IND | 2324 |
| 7 | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | 5016193 | IND | 2320 |
| 3 | WGM | Kulkarni Bhakti | 5019516 | IND | 2311 |
| 6 | WGM | Swati Ghate | 5003474 | IND | 2277 |
| 4 | WIM | Chitlange Sakshi | 35002899 | IND | 2248 |
| 10 | WIM | Nandhidhaa Pv | 5050847 | IND | 2190 |
| 11 | WGM | Meenakshi Subbaraman | 5004381 | IND | 2165 |
| 12 | WGM | Kiran Manisha Mohanty | 5019575 | IND | 2159 |
| 5 | Bala Kannamma P | 5081432 | IND | 2058 | |
| 9 | Ghosh Samriddhaa | 5094003 | IND | 1988 | |
| 1 | Pandey Srishti | 35093290 | IND | 1885 |
The organizers brought in some novelty factor off the board when the game of Housie was used to determine the drawing of lots. These were the rules:
The one who got the 1st line would get no.1 in the drawing of lots, 2nd line would get no. 2, 3rd line would be no.3, 4th was 4 corners, 5th was Quick 5, 6th was under 50, 7th was unlucky 7, 8th was Letter T, 9th was above 50, 10th 1st Full house, 11th 2nd Full house, 12th was the one who was left.
Playing Schedule:
| Round | Date | Time |
| 1 | 2017/11/25 | 02.30 PM |
| 2 | 2017/11/26 | 10.00 AM |
| 3 | 2017/11/27 | 10.00 AM |
| 4 | 2017/11/28 | 10.00 AM |
| 5 | 2017/11/29 | 10.00 AM |
| 6 | 2017/11/30 | 10.00 AM |
| 7 | 2017/12/02 | 10.00 AM |
| 8 | 2017/12/03 | 10.00 AM |
| 9 | 2017/12/04 | 10.00 AM |
| 10 | 2017/12/05 | 10.00 AM |
| 11 | 2017/12/06 | 10.00 AM |
SMCA online blitz contest for National Premier 2017:
Your chance to win ChessBase products worth Rs.5,000.
Step 1: Register yourself for the SMCA online blitz. You can do it from here.
Step 2: Choose your favourite to win out of the 12 participants. (The top 6 seeds are displayed in the picture above)
Step 3: You have to tell us what is so special about the favourite that you have chosen in step 2: For eg. if you favourite to win is Padmini Rout, you can write a few words about her what makes her so special.
You can leave your answer in the comments section below.
Last date for entries is 28th of November 2017. The right answer will receive a gift coupon worth Rs. 5,000 of ChessBase products which has to be used by 31st of December 2017.
