Meenakshi starts favourite

By Our Sports Reporter

KOZHIKODE, DEC. 22. After the Olympiad and the World championship, two of the toughest and the most prestigious assignments in international chess, S. Meenakshi should find the going a lot easier over the next week or so. She starts as the favourite for the 15th National junior girls' championship, which begins at the V.K. Krishna Menon Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

If she plays to her true potential, the Chennai girl should not have too many problems in what is the weakest field for a National juniors for the past many years. ``It is indeed the weakest I have ever played,'' agreed Meenakshi, who has been playing in the event for the last seven years, shortly after the inaugural ceremony this evening.

In the last edition of the championship, which was held at the same venue in January, there were Swati Ghate and Nisha Mohota, both seasoned internationals, and at Thalassery, a year before, apart from those two, Pallavi Shah, Aarthie Ramaswamy and Neha Singh also took part.

Meenakshi, 19, had finished runner-up in the last championship after threatening to run away with the title. Though it was a most disappointing end, her games were really impressive and she finally seemed to be ready to emerge out of the imposing shadows of her elder sister, S. Vijayalakshmi, the India No. 1.

She then went on claim the second place in the National women's `A' championship in Mumbai and performed commendably in the Olympiad at Istanbul, where she completed her International Woman Master title. Though she was ousted in the very first round of the World championship, she had put up a brave fight against her more experienced rival, Elena Zayac of Russia.

``Since this is my last chance I definitely would try to win the title here,'' said the top seed, who has a rating of 2230 Elo points. There are, however, girls who are capable of upsetting her plans.

The second seed Y. Prathiba (2083), also from Chennai, is the only other National `A' player in the fray. J.E. Kavitha, another Chennaite, is also a dangerous, but unpredictable, player. The 16-year-old is in fine form too, having won the National under-18 title in Chennai recently.

M. R. Sangeetha (2014), from where else but Chennai, would be hoping to repeat her performance at the Thalassery tourney two years ago, when she played splendidly to finish second. The fourth seed, Manasi Dadarkar (she is not from Chennai) could not also be taken lightly. The Maharashtrian, with a rating of 2048, has a habit of creating an upset in every tournament she plays.

The event, for which only 32 players have reported so far, will be played over eight Swiss rounds. ``But we are expecting a few more entries,'' said K. Rathnakaumar, Chief Arbiter. The champion will represent India in the next World junior championship, and the runner-up could play in the Asian juniors. The stakes are indeed high.

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