Bhagyashree stumbles at last hurdle

By P.K. Ajith Kumar

NEW DELHI, NOV. 29. In the sudden death on Wednesday, died India's last hope in the women's World chess championship when that gritty, little woman, Bhagyasrhee Thipsay faltered at the last hurdle after coming close to making it to the second round at Hyatt Regency.

She lost in the first game of the sudden death in the opening round to Peng Shoaqin, after missing a draw in the previous game, which would have taken her to the second round.

On a nerve-wrecking day of tie-breaks, Pia Cramling of Sweden beat Nikoletta Lakos of Hungary 3-2, Wang Lei of China got the better of Olga Stjazhkina of Russia 2.5-1.5, Qin Kanying of China beat Masha Klinova of Israel 1.5-0.5 and Maritza Arribas of Cuba defeated Ukraine's Anna Zantokish 3.5-2.5 to move into the second round.

Bhagyashree after losing the first game in the first set of tie- breaks (of 25 minutes each) bounced back winning the second game. Then she went 2-1 up winning the first game in the second set of tie-breaks (of 15 minutes each) before disaster struck her.

In the second game of the second tie-break, played from the Sicilian Defence, she missed a chance to get the required the draw, when she made a wrong rook move in the ending. She played just too passively.

Then in the first game of the sudden death, she played badly from early on. She opted for Dutch Defence once more, and could hardly do anything of note. Early in the game, she got her rook trapped and had to give it up for a bishop. She resigned immediately.

``I was surprised when she resgined,'' her husband Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay said. ``You don't resign like that in sudden death; anything can happen to your rival you know,'' he added.

Qin was the only woman to win in the first set of tie- breaks. After drawing the opening game with white peices, she scored a smooth, quick victory in the second, playing on the black side of a Caro-Kann Defence. She launched a splendid attack on king-side, finishing off by offering her knight on f7. Her queen, rook and both bishops were ready for the kill, while the uncastled king of Klinova was defenceless.

The results: Peng Shoaqin (Ned) 3 bt Bhagyashree Thipsay 2; Qin Kanying (Chn) bt Masha Klinova (Isr) 1.5-0.5; Pia Cramling (Swe) 3 bt Nikoletta Lakos (Hun); Maritza Arribas (Cub) bt Anna Zantokish (Cub) 3.5-2.5.

lPairings for second round, game one: Svetlana Matveeva (Rus) v Xie Jun (Chn), Maia Chiburdanidze (Geo) v Corina Peptan (Rom), Tatjana Vasilevich (Ukr) v Irina Krush (US), Alisa Galliamova (Rus) v Natasa Bojkovic (Yug), Anna Hahn (US) v Xu Yuhua (Chn), Qin Kanying (Chn) v Maritza Arakhamia (Cub), Peng Zhaoqin (Chn) v Wang Lei (Chn), Viktorija Cmilyte (Lit) v Inga Khurtslava (Geo), Elena Zayac (Rus) v Pia Cramling (Swe), Nana Ioseliani (Geor) v Niina Kosleka (Fin), Marta Zeilinskaya (Pol) v Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (Rus), Almira Skripchenko-Lautier v Marany Meyer (Rus), Joanna Dworakowska (Pol) v Natalya Zukova (Ukr), Ketin Koachiani-Gersikno v Maria Manakova (Yug), Julia Demina (Rus) v Maritza Arribas (Cub), Alisa Maric (Yug) v Rakhil Eidelson (Blr).

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