Date:18/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/18/stories/2003011802721900.htm

Sport - Chess

All set for National 'A' championship

By Raghunandan Gokhale

Mumbai Jan. 17. The defending champion, Grandmaster K. Sasikiran of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board will begin his campaign with white pieces against debutant International Master S. Satyapragyan (Indian Airlines) in the National `A' chess championship beginning at Hotel Tulip Star here on Saturday.

In the women's section, the reigning queen S. Vijayalakshmi (Indian Airlines) is scheduled to meet another hot favourite and the latest Woman Grandmaster Aarthie Ramswamy (Wipro).

This `Clash of Titans' will have a major effect on the final outcome of the championship.

The championship ran into rough weather when the technicians informed the organisers that installation of equipment needed to relay the games live on the Internet required more time.

So the President of Venus Chess Academy, Mr. Ravindra Dongre took a decision to cancel one of the rest days and the championship would begin on Saturday instead of Friday.

The players themselves cancelled the remaining rest day when they petitioned the Chief Arbiter that they preferred not to play two rounds on the eve of the rest day. Instead they suggested shifting one of the rounds on rest day. International Arbiter, Mr. R.C. Chatterjee agreed after consultations with the organisers.

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy had been given a special seat among the men but preferred to skip the Championship. Teenager Mary Ann Gomes is missing the championship due to personal reasons. Thus players in both the sections will get a bye and so gain a rest day.

International Master S. Kidambi (PSPB) and National Super League girls' champion Kruttika Nadig (Maharshtra) will have a bye in the very first round.

The championships will be played in round robin format among 21 men and 13 women. Chess lovers across the globe can watch the games live on the Internet.

The first round will witness many interesting battles. The most important match would be between Grandmasters Abhijit Kunte and Surya Sekhar Ganguly, both from IOC.

One can expect a cautious draw from their game as the Indian teams for forthcoming International meets would be selected from this event.

The city of Mumbai is going to witness its strongest ever event where all the Grandmasters, except V. Anand, would be seen in action. The British champion, R.B. Ramesh (PSPB) is expected to be the dark horse of the championship.

First round pairings:

Men: K. Sasikiran v S. Satyapragyan, P. Thipsay v S.S. Soman, Tejas Bakre v Sriram Jha, P. Harikrishna v S. Saha, M.R. Venkatesh v G.B. Prakash, Arvind Shastry v Dibyendu Barua, V. Sarvanan v Lanka Ravi, Abhijit Kunte v S.S. Ganguly, R.B. Ramesh v Prathamesh Mokal, S.R. Choudhary v Neelotpal Das, S. Kidambi — bye.

Women: Aarthie Ramaswamy v S.Vijayalakshmi, Swati Ghate v Y. Pratibha, Nisha Mohota v Easha Karvade, D. Harika v Tania Sachdev, Sai Meera v Swati Mohota, J.E. Kavitha v S. Meenakshi, K. Nadig — bye.