Kasturi revels in the limelight

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 22. M. Kasturi got a well-deserved share of media attention on her return from Teheran on Sunday after winning the Asian junior (under-20) chess championship. It was a new experience for this 14-year-old from Madurai and she, for sure, liked it.

``It is a different feeling from the one I got after winning the championship,'' said Kasturi at the conclusion of a simple felicitation function organised by the Delhi Chess Association at the India International Centre here on Sunday.

The fifth-seeded Kasturi had led India's medal sweep in the girls' section by finishing with 8.5 points out of a possible 11. She was followed by S. Meenakshi and Tania Sachdev, in that order, with eight points each.

On her unexpected triumph, Kasturi came up with an equally unexpected reaction. ``Though I was not among the favourites, I was looking at winning the title once I beat Meenakshi (in the fifth round),'' said Kasturi, whose triumph helped India keep the title won by Koneru Humpy last year in Mumbai.

However, the Indian boys failed to retain the title for the first time since 1997. Favourite P. Hari Krishna, who had finished runner-up to Tejas Bakre in Mumbai, had to remain content with another second-best reward, followed by K. Rathnakaran. Vietnam's Thanh Son Nguyen claimed the honours with nine points - a winning margin of 1.5 points.

Out of the five Indian medallists, Meenakshi and Rathnakaran left for Chennai and Kozhikode, respectively, after arriving in the Capital in the wee hours of Sunday.

When contacted telephonically, Meenakshi told The Hindu, ``I agree winning the silver medal is nice, but I wanted to win the title.'' Reflecting on her fifth- round loss to Kasturi, Meenakshi said, ``I blundered and lost from a good position. It was disastrous.''

Tania, perhaps the first donor-entrant ever to tie for the second spot in a continental age-group championship, had reasons to be pleased with her performance. ``It feels very, very nice to do well in a tough competition of this kind. Still, I feel, I could have done better in a couple of games. I am aware of the areas of my game which need improvement,'' said this eager-to-learn student of Modern School (Vasant Vihar) from the Capital.

Among the boys, Hari regretted missing a ``clear win'' against the eventual champion in the seventh round. ``He was destined to win, that is all I can say,'' said Hari. Strangely, Hari failed to win a single match with black pieces - losing one and drawing five - but made some amends by winning every match with white.

``It is difficult to explain. I had good positions in all my matches but somehow, I could not translate the advantage to the maximum,'' said Hari, who, like National junior champion P. Magesh Chandran, was waiting to hear from the Emirates airline officials on his baggage.

Magesh Chandran and National runner-up M. R. Venkatesh, who finished seventh and ninth, respectively, also agreed with Hari that Nguyen was plain lucky to escape from the jaws of defeat against all the Indians he faced.

If there was an award for a player gaining maximum sympathy, it would have gone unchallenged to Venkatesh. He was the best Indian boy on view, until the eighth round, in the second place with 6.5 points. Thereafter, he needed just two draws from the remaining three rounds to virtually assure the runner-up slot. However, he lost the remaining three matches, including the ninth round match on time in an equal position, and went tumbling down the standings.

The medal winners at the Asian junior chess championship at Tehran pose with their citations during a felicitation function in New Delhi on Sunday. (From left): M. Kasturi (gold, girls' under-20), Tania Sachdev (bronze) and P. Harikrishna (silver, boys' under-20).

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