The Hindu : Indians need to buck up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 15, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Indians need to buck up

By Rakesh Rao

PANAJI DEC. 14. With six rounds remaining in the World junior chess championship, the top-notch Indians will be under pressure to give a better account of themselves. So far, the host have only managed to follow the leading contenders from China and Russia besides the lone challenger from Armenia.

Though it is still too early to predict the winners, what can said with a certain amount of assurance is that unless the Indians show more `hunger' for success, they may well get prepared to join the Chinese party to celebrate a possible `double' triumph.

After seven rounds, China's Zhao Xue in the girls' section and Ni Hua, along with his top seeded teammate Bu Xiangzhi, have emerged as new favourites. Though Armenian second seed Levon Aronian is on par with Ni Hua at the top, the `Chinese aggression' cannot be undermined in days to come.

From India's point of view, there have been some very encouraging results from the lower boards where the lesser-rated Indians have proved equal to many stronger rivals. However, the inability of P. Hari Krishna, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda and girls champion Koneru Humpy to break the shackles and post more victories have proved a dampner.

International Masters S. Satyapragyan and Neelotpal Das have done better than expected while sub-juniors G. Rohit and Akshayraj Kore have repeatedly denied victories to several higher rated rivals. With every passing round, more and more overseas players are realising that most Indians are grossly under-rated. But if one looks at the larger picture, it becomes clear that somehow the leading Indians have not performed in keeping with their potential.

Hari and Ganguly, seeded seven and 11, have played lesser-rated rivals so far but have scored less than expected. Hari has had four draws and only one of his three victories has come from white pieces. He will have to increase his strike-rate when sitting behind the brighter pieces if he has to brighten his chances of making the medal-bracket.

Ganguly, too, has looked out of sorts. Having met his GM-title requirements recently, Ganguly was expected to play more freely. But he is unable to score freely as his rivals are showing no signs of relenting. Draws in the last four rounds must have taken its toll on Ganguly's confidence. But then, Ganguly will have to look ahead with optimism since he has everything to play for in the remaining six rounds.

Humpy, too, finds herself in the same boat as Hari and Ganguly. Humpy's rivals have come too well-prepared for her liking. After a fairly good start of 3.5 points from four rounds, Humpy has remained winless in the last three.

On the other hand, China's Zhao Xue, the girl whom Humpy pipped on progressive score last year to claim the title, looks very keen to do one better this time. She is not only a point ahead of Humpy at this stage but also played some of the better performers so far in the competition. Zhao is surely the girl to watch out for.

Humpy, with her task cut out, faces second seed Tatiana Kosintseva while seventh seed Zhao meets third ranked Russian Natalia Pogonina. It will be interesting to watch Humpy's approach from now on. Humpy is known to relish playing the `waiting-game' but considering the situation, where her rivals are happy to hold her, she will have to play sharper lines in order to keep alive winning possibilities.

Among the other Indians girls, Dronavalli Harika's inexperience is showing up. But then, it has been a very fine learning experience for the 12-year-old playing her biggest age-group competition.

On the brighter side, Asian junior champion Tania Sachdev has performed pretty well. The 20th seeded girl, placed just half-a-point behind Humpy, has remained unbeaten so far. She did miss a possible victory in the sixth round but did better on Friday by coming up with a rook-sacrifice and forcing Germany's Leonie Helm to resign at once.

Overall, the stronger among the host entries will have to act fast before time runs out.

Top-10 eighth-round pairings: Boys: Bu Xiangzhi-Aronian; Timofeev-Ni Hua; Smerdon-Jakovenko; Hari-Kristjansson; McShane-Potkin; Berkes-Erenburg; Maghami-Miton; Inarkiev-Simutowe; Ganguly-Satyapragyan; Wojtaszek-Sandipan.

Girls: Natalia Pogonina-Zhao Xue; Tatiana Kosintseva-Humpy; Calotescu-Makka; Nadezhda-Ziagangirova; Wang Yu-Sophie Millet; Elmira Khasanova-Tania; Priya-Matras; Tian Tian-Savic Marjana; Harika-Eva Moser; Cindy-Oubiennykh.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport