A stupendous effort

By Our Special Correspondent

NAGPUR, JULY 9. When the National `B' chess championship commenced here on June 30, one of the major points of interest was whether a woman could gate-crash into the men's National `A' championship. Fifth seed Woman Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi looked the obvious choice as the one capable of being the first woman to qualify for the men's National championship. Vijayalakshmi eventually qualified but the distinction of being the first lady qualifier went to the 40th- ranked Swati Ghate.

Vijayalakshmi, the strongest woman player in the country, has several firsts to her credit, but this rare, unbreakable record shall remain with Swati.

Swati not only earned qualification but did it in great style. She finished runner-up and that too, by remaining unbeaten. A stupendous effort !

The 21-year-old Swati, coached by Bhausaheb Padsalgikar in Sangli and later by International Master Arun Vaidya in Pune, has been part of the National women's team for three years since 1997. She regained her place last month by finishing third in the National `A'.

An Woman International Master since 1998, Swati was in sight of making the list of 12 qualifiers in the last National `B' championship at Jamshedpur but missed it by one point. But this time, Swati was not to be denied.

Considering that chess is one of those disciplines where women take on men on an even keel, the path-breaking efforts of Swati and Vijayalakshmi are very significant.

For long, the level of women's chess in the country has remained a subject of ridicule. It is often said that when two women play, the one who doesn't commit the last mistake, wins. The fare dished out at the women's National `A' championship last month only reinforced this belief. But here, the two ladies set the record straight.

Even as Vijayalakshmi crashed to three defeats in five rounds, Swati went about her task in a methodical manner. She quietly won the first three rounds against lesser-rated opponents. Swati's remaining 10 opponents were all rated higher than her, against whom she collected an equal number of victories and draws in the next six rounds, before drawing the last four matches without much trouble.

Extremely lucky to win against Lanka Ravi, Swati's big moment came later in the day when she got the better of third seed Sandipan Chanda, who was uncharacteristically rash in their key match.

One of the biggest worries for Swati came on the eve of the final round. Being the lowest seed in the score-group of nine points from 12 rounds, Swati was expected to be paired against either G. B. Prakash or S. Vijayalakshmi, both of whom needed nothing less than a victory to ensure qualification. But as it turned out, the computer paired Swati with her friend from Pune, C. S. Gokhale.

The relief for Swati was short-lived as N. Sanjay, who was made to play Vijayalakshmi, protested in writing. But after much deliberations, the Appeal's Committee upheld the initial pairings. Swati truly had reasons to feel ``relieved.''

``The feeling of having qualified (for men's National `A') is yet to sink in, but I am greatly relieved,'' said Swati soon after her match. ``There was considerable tension since last evening over the pairings. But now, I am very happy,'' was her candid confession.

Vijayalakshmi, on the other hand, tried in vain to hold back her tears after scoring over Sanjay in the final round. She had missed qualification by a whisker in Surat a couple of years ago on progressive scores. Here, she was precariously placed with just two points from five rounds. But she chose the stage to display her fighting qualities and scored 7.5 points in the last eight rounds.

``I am very happy to qualify but at the same time, I feel sad that I had to make it by beating Sanjay,'' said Vijayalakshmi, rightly sparing a thought for her rival and continued, ``he deserves to qualify, too.'' But that was not to be. The qualification of these two ladies to the men's National `A' will now force the All India Chess Federation to ensure that the it is not held concurrently with the women's championship. Should the AICF decide to go ahead with the two championships under one roof, both these ladies are sure to opt for the men's championship.

As a result, even if AICF refuses to change, the next edition of the National `A' championship is sure to be different.

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