Swati makes history ahead of Vijayalakshmi

By Rakesh Rao

NAGPUR, JULY 9. For a change, there was more to a competition than the title-race. History was made in the 39th edition of the National `B' chess championship when Swati Ghate became the first lady to qualify for the next National `A' chess championship. Not to be left far behind, Woman Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi, too, followed Swati in the list of 12 qualifiers.

On a tension-filled final day, which witnessed a reasonable protest leading to a delayed start, Sriram Jha expectedly won the title. But the interest hovered over the lower-board results which decided the fate of those aspiring to qualify.

Once the on-board action commenced an hour behind the re- scheduled start, following a protest by N. Sanjay over the final round pairings, the title was decided in quick time with Jha opting for a quick draw with LIC-teammate Dinesh Kumar Sharma on the top board. These roommates chose not to spring any surprise and drew in just 12 moves. The result gave Jha a tally of 10 points from 13 rounds and the title worth Rs. 20,650.

Swati achieved the unique distinction of qualifying by completing the formalities with a six-move draw against C. S. Gokhale. A tally of 9.5 points, along with the best progressive count among eight players ending with Vijayalakshmi, gave Swati the runner-up slot besides Rs. 14,520 in prize-money.

Like Swati, the National junior champion P. Magesh Chandran, too, ensured his debut in the National championship, following a four- move draw with top seed R. B. Ramesh on the second board. While Chandran finished third, Ramesh took the seventh spot and ensured his return to the National `A' after two years.

The suspense over the remaining qualifiers began soon after the top three boards ended in draws. Players from the next seven boards were expected to fill the vacant five spots but at least one qualifier from the lower boards could not be ruled out. The most-watched board was the one where S. Vijayalakshmi faced Sanjay. The Woman Grandmaster, with 8.5 points needed a victory to qualify while Sanjay required a draw to make the grade with 9.5 points. Earlier in his protest, 17th- seeded Sanjay had raised a valid objection, on technical grounds, after being made to play Vijayalakshmi.

After much deliberations, late on Sunday night and this morning, the Appeals Committee, comprising Messrs Nasir Ali, Varugeese Koshy, G. B. Joshi, Nassir Wajih and Satchidanand Soman, finally came across rule 10.2 of the rule book and upheld the pairings made by the computer.

Seen in such a background, Sanjay's mental state was imaginable. A cross-section of the senior players still sympathised with him. But that did not help Sanjay's cause as he went down tamely to Vijayalakshmi.

Though Vijayalakshmi, who eventually finished ninth, received accolades for her tremendous achievement, she could not help spare a thought for Sanjay. Like many players, Vijayalakshmi, too, wished qualification to the Mysore-based Central Revenue player. As it turned out, Sanjay finished 13th, trailing by just 0.5 point on progressive score to the last qualifier, N. Sudhakar Babu.

Before the list of qualifiers was finalised, an unbeaten Vishal Sareen knocked out Lanka Ravi and fourth seed V. Saravanan got the better of a fighting Survajit Saha to ensure their places among the qualifiers. The remaining three slots were filled by ONGC's Varugeese Koshy, a surprise-packet from Railways, B. T. Murali Krishnan and Indian Bank's Sudhakar Babu - all on nine points, but with superior progressive scores than 12 others.

Those who failed to keep their places in the National `A' were GM-elect and second seed G. B. Prakash, Lanka Ravi, Neelotpal Das, Atanu Lahiri, Saptarshi Roy, Sekhar Sahu and Nassir Wajih.

The finishers in the 13 to 24 bracket, in that order, were, Sanjay, Prakash, S. Satyapragyan, S. Kidambi, Kiran Panditrao, Vikramaditya Kamble, T. S. Ravi, Shankar Roy, Rahul Shetty, Satchidanand Soman, Pramod Kumar Singh and Neelotpal Das, all with nine points.

The one notable absentee from the list is third seed Sandeepan Chanda. He had to beat Pramod Kumar Singh to qualify but lost in his desperate bid to force a win.

The results:

13th round: Dinesh Sharma (9.5) drew with Sriram Jha (10); R. B. Ramesh (9.5) drew with P. Magesh Chandran (9.5); C. S. Gokhale (9.5) drew with Swati Ghate (9.5); S. Vijayalakshmi (9.5) bt N. Sanjay (9); G. B. Prakash (9) drew with Varugeese Koshy (9); Suvrajit Saha (8.5) lost to V. Saravanan (9.5); S. Kidambi (9) drew with N. Sudhakar Babu (9); Satchidanand Soman (9) drew with S. Satyapragyan (9); T. S. Ravi (9) drew with Kiran Panditrao (9); Lanka Ravi (8.5) lost to Vishal Sareen (9.5); Sandipan Chanda (8) lost to Pramod Kumar Singh (9); Deepan Chakravarthi (8) lost to Neelotpal Das (9); Vikramaditya Kamble (9) bt Atanu Lahiri (8); B. T. Murali Krishnan (9) bt Prathamesh Mokal (8); Shankar Roy (9) bt Anirban Guha Roy (8); Rahul Shetty (9) bt M. Srinivasa Rao (8); Roktim Bandopadhyaya (8.5) drew with Vedant Goswami (8.5); Nirav Rajasuba (8) drew with M. R. Venkatesh (8); Sayantan Dutta (8.5) bt K. V. Shantaram (8.5); Ravi Kumar (8.5) bt Amardeep Bartakke (7.5); Gurpreet Pal Singh (8.5) bt M. K. Panigrahi (7.5); Pradip Ghosh (8) drew with Pankaj Joshi (8); Shashikant Kutwal (8) drew with Vikrant Chole (8); R. Upadhyaya (7.5) lost to Preetham R. Sharma (8.5); Arghyadip Das (8) drew with Siddharth (8); Rohan Shandilya (7.5) lost to Manthan Chokshi (8.5); Krishan Soni (7.5) lost to B. S. Shivananda (8.5); Somak Palit (8) drew with Anup Deshmukh (8); Manoj Mishra (7.5) drew with Nassir Wajih (7.5); P. Rajesh (7.5) drew with Sekhar Sahu (7.5).

Final standings (with points, progressive scores and prize- money): 1. Sriram Jha (10, 77, Rs. 20,650); 2. Swati Ghate (9.5, 73, 14,520); 3. P. Mahesh Chandran (9.5, 73, 12,000); 4. C. S. Gokhale (9.5, 72, 9,600); 5. Vishal Sareen (9.5, 68.5, 7,100); 6. Dinesh Kumar Sharma (9.5, 68.5, 5,100); 7. R. B. Ramesh (9.5, 68, 3,660); 8. V. Saravanan (9.5, 65.5, 2,650); 9. S. Vijayalakshmi (9.5, 58.5, 1,750); 10. B. T. Murali Krishnan (9, 70, 1300); 11. Vargeese Koshy (9, 69.5, 800); 12. N. Sudhakar Babu (9, 68.5, 800).

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