Indians stand a good chance

THE ASIAN zonal chess championship, which begins in Colombo this morning, could well turn out to be an alternative Indian national championship. Once again. This is one rare international tournament - for any discipline - which could see the Indians picking up all the medals on offer.

Also at stake is a place in the next World championship. ``That's what makes the zonal championship special,'' says Woman Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi, who is aiming a hat-trick of titles at the championship.

Speaking to TheHindu over telephone from her home in Chennai a few days before leaving for Sri Lanka, the chess Olympiad silver medallist said that she was keenly looking forward to defending her title. ``But of course I am not taking anything for granted,'' she hastened to add, ``I don't, after the debacle at the World championship.''

The 21-year-old was referring to her inexplicable loss to Finland's lowly rated Niina Koskela in the opening round of the World championship in New Delhi last November. But, at the moment, nobody seems capable of stopping this confident and talented young woman in this competition.

She may not face much of a challenge even from the current India No. 2, International Woman Master (IWM) S. Meenakshi, her younger sister, who said she would try her best to bring two medals to their house. ``But I have hardly had any time at all to practise,'' she said, ``as I was preparing for my BBA examinations.''

Viji, as Vijayalakshmi is always called, too was taking her examinations. ``Yes, I too could not work on my game of late, but I hope I would strike form once the tournament gets underway,'' she says.

Three more Indians - IWM Swati Ghate, IWM Pallavi Shah and Saheli Dhar-Barua - are in the fray in the women's section. In the last edition of the championship in Mumbai, Shabana Parveen had made a sensation when she finished third ahead of more fancied Indian rivals. ``Yes, I was impressed by her in Mumbai,'' says Viji.

But in Colombo, the Indian women look a bit too good for the rest of the field. The Indian men look even better.

Grandmaster (GM) Krishnan Sasikiran is the top seed and starts as the favourite. GMs Abhijit Kunte and Dibyendu Barua and International Masters (IM) Surya Shekhar Ganguly and D. V. Prasad complete the line- up.

``Going by the present form, I think the battle for the title should be mainly between Sasikiran and Kunte,'' says Prasad, who had captained the Indian team at the Olympiad in Istanbul (where India scored an impressive eighth place). As for the veteran himself, he says his first goal would be to get his second GM norm.

``I've put in some effort for this tournament and I see it as a good opportunity to have a go at that norm,'' says Prasad, who had won the Asian zonal championship in its former and more expanded format (when the West Asian countries were also there).

Sasikiran, India's latest Grandmaster and best player after Anand, feels it is not going to be easy at Colombo. ``I think it's a strong field and I expect a few tough games,'' says the Chennai-based player who had finished third in Mumbai two years ago. He has had a good year so far, winning the Hastings GM tournament in Britain and scoring valuable Elo points. He is also keen to put behind him the indifferent show at the Jakarta GM tournament a few weeks ago.

One cannot underestimate Dibyendu Barua either. The Kolkata- based veteran is the defending champion and is a very tough customer.

The presence of Bangladesh makes the men's tournament competitive. The eastern neighbour has been making slow but steady progress in the game, and in IM Zia-ur-Rehman it has a player who is really talented and widely respected. ``Yes, Zia is very good,'' admits Sasikiran.

Bangladesh also boasts of a GM in Niaz Murshed and promising youngsters like Abdulla Al-Rakib and Reefat Bin-Sattar. From Pakistan, the biggest challenge would come from IM Mohammed Lodhi (No, Sports Minister, Ms. Uma Bharati doesn't mind his presence).

This is the first international tournament the tiny island nation is hosting. ``One of the reasons for awarding Sri Lanka this tournament was to introduce it to international and continental events,'' says P. T. Ummer Koya, FIDE vice president. ``When I visited Colombo last year, I found that the government there was quite interested to promote chess.''

The game is making the right moves in the island, according to the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka official Derrick V. Perera. In an e-mail message he said that his country was going through one of its finest periods ever in chess. ``Sri Lanka finished 24 places above its ranking at the Istanbul Olympiad,'' he said. ``There has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of internationally rated players.''

He added that Lanka would also be hosting the Asian junior chess championship next year. ``By conducting tournaments like the zonal championship our players will get opportunity to meet some of the best players in Asia (and the world),'' he said.

The new reduced time control will be in force in Colombo. ``Well, it's ok for me,'' says Viji, ``I got a taste of it at the Goodricke championship in Kolkata recently. And of course you are not going to get classics now. With much lesser time, there are bound to be mistakes.''

The zonal championship is a FIDE title tournament, with the winner directly getting the IM or the IWM title. There will be two rounds on alternative days, a practise that all players have to get used to. The event carries a prize-money of $ 2,500.

But of course more than the money, it is that place in the World championship that matters. GM Viswanathan Anand would be delighted to learn that there are more Indians in the fray when he begins his defence of the World title.

P. K. AJITH KUMAR

Kozhikode

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