''I did not have enough time to prepare''

SHE TURNS down the request instantly. ``No, I won't talk,'' she says with a stern face. But one doesn't get to see a World No. 5 and World title challenger every day, so one doesn't give up easily.

But she still wouldn't talk. ``I want to do shopping and go around Delhi,'' she tries to explain. But one still doesn't give up.

You promptly meet that amiable and energetic lady from Georgia, Nana Alexandria, herself a former challenger to the crown but far more voluble, and seek help. She promises she would try. And finally, Alisa Galliamova of Russia, understandably upset at her third round loss to Almira Skripchenko Lautier of Maldova in the women's World chess championship, agrees to speak, ``but for ten minutes,'' because she has to return home soon.

Half-an-hour later, sitting on a comfortable sofa at the corridor of Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, Galliamova is still talking. And thank god, she is laughing and smiling. Dear old Nana is acting as an interpreter, occasionally.

She begins speaking in Russian, and an amused Nana, after a few minutes, asks whether one knows the language. Can't even make out it is Russian. Alisa laughs heartily and switches over to English.

She regales you with a tale about her first meeting with Viswanathan Anand, the new World champion.

``I met him for the first time about ten years ago. Both of us were playing in the Lloyds Bank junior tournament in England. One day he invited me to a dinner, and I went with him to a Chinese restaurant. There were another boy and girl with us. In Russia, you know, when a man invites a woman he always pays. So you could imagine my shock when he asked me to pay for myself,'' she says, laughing loudly. ``You must write about this, let's see if he remembers this incident. The next time when he invites me for dinner, I will ensure that he pays.''

She says she did not think at the time that Anand would become such a great player. ``He was a strong player even then, but his rise has been remarkable.''

Alisa's rise too has been swift in the women's game. She learnt the game from her school in Kazan, her home town, when she was nine. She won her first major title at 15, the World under-16 championship in Austria.

Then in 1988, she won the World junior girls' chess championship in Adelaide. ``Xie Jun was second there,'' she recalls. She became a Woman Grandmaster when she was 16, and two years later, she got the men's International Master title. She has played in four Olympiads, the first of which was for the erstwhile Soviet Union, in Novi-Saad in 1990.

In 1997 she won the Russian women's championship, and that year she also registered her best performance, when she won the Candidates tournament in Groningen. It was a strong tournament, and she finished ahead of players like Xie Jun, the World champion, Maya Chiburdanidze, a five- time World champion, Nana Isoliani and Pia Cramling. ``The triumph at Groningen was very gratifying, because I came first in a tournament in which all the top women players, except the Polgars, played.''

She had the best chance to become the World champion in 1999, but she lost to Xie Jun, 6.5-8.5, after putting up a good fight. ``I was always against the idea of playing the final in China, but I had to,'' she says.

What went wrong in Delhi?

``It's disappointing to go out of the World championship so early,'' says Alisa, who turns 29 on January 18, ``but I was feeling very, very tired after the Olympiad. Of course that must be the case with other players as well. There should have been a decent gap between the Olympiad and the World championship. It's very difficult to play in a World championship, just two weeks after the Olympiad. I did not get any time to prepare at all.''

She also doesn't like the knock-out system of the World championship. ``You see, players like Maya and Cramling were knocked out in the second round itself,'' she points out. ``So it is not the best system. I think there should be some qualifying rounds before the World championship. And we should have four classical games, and not two, in each round.''

Alisa, a former World No. 2 who has a current rating of 2526, has sound tactical abilities and is a good fighter. ``She somehow manages to find some resources in bad positions,'' said Almira Skripchenko Lautier, the girl who beat her in the Delhi World championship.

Says Nana, ``She is one of the most gifted female players I ever saw and showed brilliant results from a young age. It was clear from the beginning that a great star was emerging in the women's game. She has already fulfilled some of her potential and she is not too old now; she could still become the World champion.''

To be the World champion is indeed Alisa's aim. She also wants to complete her men's GM title. She has two norms, the second one coming from the Russian men's championship, where she finished seventh. ``That was a good effort from me, because the Russian men's championships are always quite strong, you know.''

She relaxes by reading and watching television. ``But I need to work on my physique,'' she feels. ``I should do some exercises to be in good shape. Chess is also physically demanding, especially when you have to play the tie-breakers, like in the World championship.''

``You know there is a club named after Alisa back home,'' Nana informs.

``Not any longer,'' the Russian corrects her. ``I didn't like it at all, so they changed the name.'' ``And I want to see Delhi,'' she suddenly remembers, and you let her go.

P. K. AJITH KUMAR

Kozhikode

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