Tuesday, May 14, 2002
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Chess
By Rakesh Rao
THE REIGN CONTINUES: Women Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi, who won a record sixth title and fifth in a row in the women's National `A' chess championship at Lucknow on Monday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy
In fact, even before Vijayalakshmi completed a commanding 34-move victory in the 13th and final round, she was assured the title once her closest challenger Aarthie Ramaswamy had agreed to a quick nine-move draw with Safira Shanaz. Eventually, Vijayalakshmi finished with 9.5 points and claimed the winner's purse of Rs. 21,000. Aarthie finished runner-up with eight points, same as Swati Ghate, and collected Rs. 16,500. Swati, who trounced Tania Sachdev, received Rs. 11,500. S. Meenakshi completed the four-member Indian women's Olympiad team by scoring over Anupama Gokhale. Further, her tally of 7.5 points was worth Rs. 8,700. By sheer coincidence, in the previous edition of the championship in New Delhi, these players had filled the top four places but not in the same order. This time, Aarthie has traded places with two-time runner-up Meenakshi. Also, the top four players have retained their berths in next year's championship. On the final day when all matches ended inside three hours, 40-year-old Bhagyashree Thipsay won the `battle of generations' by beating Dronavalli Harika, younger by nearly 29 years, and finished fifth. Harika's first loss of the championship also robbed her of a chance to figure in the Olympiad. Also, if Harika had won the match, she would have made history by becoming the country's youngest Woman International Master (WIM). She still made a 12-game norm from this round-robin competition to go with her maiden Swiss norm, over 11 games, attained in the Asian Open championship at Bikaner in February. With Harika being one game short of meeting the stipulation of 24 norm-games, she will have to make a fresh norm to become a WIM. Still, Bhagyashree and Harika have the consolation of being part of the Indian contingent for an international championship in China in July.
Meenakshi makes squad
When the round began on Monday, Swati, Harika, Meenakshi and Saheli were in contention for two of the four berths in the Olympiad team. As it turned out, things went exactly the way Meenakshi wanted. Vijayalakshmi took care of Saheli who mishandled a rook and lost. Tania, like in so many games in the past few days, succumbed to time-pressure and blundered a bishop and resigned. Bhagyashree showed no mercy on young Harika, who overlooked the loss of queen for a rook. All these results left Meenakshi with a win-and-qualify situation. And thanks to Anupama's one questionable judgement, Meenakshi was through. No wonder, Vijayalakshmi's joy of winning the championship was complete only after Meenakshi's victory. At one stage, Anupama looked better placed and Meenakshi's place in the top-four appeared in jeopardy. But once Anupama made a faulty sacrifice of a minor piece, Meenakshi came right back into the match and thereafter did nothing wrong to win in 39 moves. ``I was not feeling much about winning the title as I was thinking about Meenakshi's match. Now, I am happy because she has also made the team,'' was how Vijayalakshmi put it. Vijayalakshmi knows only too well how it feels to win the National title. After all, no other player in the 28-year-old history of the championship has proved as successful as her. After her maiden triumph in the competition in Chennai in 1995, Vijayalakshmi regained the title in Mumbai (in 1998). She retained the crown at Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and now here. Her sixth title helped her break away from the pack of five-time winners comprising Rohini Khadilkar, Bhagyashree Thipsay and Anupama Gokhale. Vijayalakshmi, who in 2000 became the first player to win three straight titles in the championship, has now stretched the record to five. ``I am particularly happy with the fact that this is the first time I've won by remaining unbeaten. Earlier, I used to push too hard and lose but now I guess, I've matured. Throughout the championship, I did not feel any great pressure. I was not bothered about who was in the lead. I took one match at a time and looking back, I'm quite pleased with the quality of my matches here,'' said Vijayalakshmi. While all attention was focussed on the composition of the National team, 14-year-old Eesha Karavade completed a memorable debut. She completed her campaign with a fine victory over Sai Meera to finish eighth with six points. The results: 13th round: Dronavalli Harika lost to Bhagyashree Thipsay; S. Vijayalakshmi bt Saheli Dhar-Barua; Eesha Karavade bt Sai Meera; Safira Shanaz drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy; S. Meenakshi bt Anupama Gokhale; Swati Ghate bt Tania Sachdev; Dolan Champa Bose bye. Final standings (with points and prize-money): 1. S. Vijayalakshmi (9.5 points, Rs. 21,000), 2. Aarthie Ramaswamy (8, Rs. 16,500), 3. Swati Ghate (8, Rs. 11,500), 4. S. Meenakshi (7.5, Rs. 8,700), 5. Bhagyashree Thipsay (7, Rs. 6,500), 6. Dronavalli Harika (7, Rs. 5,300), 7. Saheli Dhar-Barua (6.5, Rs. 3,300), 8. Eesha Karavade (6, Rs. 2,200), 9. Tania Sachdev (4.5, Rs. 1,000), 10. Sai Meera (4.5, Rs. 1,000), 11. Dolan Champa Bose (3.5, Rs. 1,000), 12. Anupama Gokhale (3.5, Rs. 1,000), 13. Safira Shanaz (2.5, Rs. 1,000).
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