Corina raring to have a go after layoff

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, NOV. 27. Corina Peptan is back before the chessboard after a short break. You could not have hoped for a bigger stage than the World chess championship but the Romanian is not overawed.

She hasn't played any chess after taking part in a tournament in Spain in July, and she missed the Olympiad at Istanbul. ``I had some personal problems, so had to stop playing chess for a while,'' says the unassuming girl.

She seems to have put those problems behind her, as she began her campaign on a bright note, winning her opening game against Monica Calzetta of Spain on Monday.

Corina is on her second visit to India. In 1993 she had played in the World junior chess championship in Kozhikode. Though she enjoyed her stay in Kerala, she was disappointed with her performance on the board. ``I was placed 15th. Though it is not a terribly bad position in a strong field, personally it was a setback for me, because I have normally done well in international competitions,'' says the 22-year-old.

She has done pretty well indeed. She won the World under-10, under-12, under-14 and under-18 titles. Her record in the age- group tournaments is quite remarkable in fact. She has won 14 medals at the World and European competitions.

She is ranked 18th in the World championship here and would love to spring a few surprises, just like Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, another Romanian, did at last year's World championship at Las Vegas (he was the giant-killer of the tournament). ``Yes, he is well liked in Romania. I just hope I could do even better than him,'' she laughs.

Though Corina is not exactly excited by the knock-out system of the World championship, she feels at least it gives an opportunity for every player to become the World champion. ``Being a conservative person, I would have preferred something like the Swiss system, but I guess this will be interesting too. Here you won't have a favourite I feel, and you can't do proper preparations,'' says she.

She learnt the moves from her father when she was eight and soon fell in love with the game. She showed a lot of promise as a kid, and was able to live upto the expectations. She became a Woman Grandmaster at 17 and two years ago she completed her men's IM title. She won a silver medal on the third board for Romania in the Moscow Olympiad in 1994. Another performance she cherishes is the third place in a higher category men's tournament in Switzerland.

Corina thinks it is nice that chess is returning to its birthplace. ``And I like Viswanathan Anand very much. He is a great player, and a nice person, which is a very rare combination,'' she says. She also rates S. Vijayalakshmi highly. ``I saw her games at the Olympiad on the computer, and was very impressed.''

Chess in Romania is doing well, she says. ``But of late, there has been a slump in the standard in the women's game, but I hope things will definitely improve. She knows a good show from her here would inspire the women players back home.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Vijayalakshmi stalled at the starting blocks
Next     : Grant blossoms to graft a gritty knock