Women's Chess, in India, has
come a long way since the domination of Khadilkar sisters. More so it has gone the way of
Chennai lass Subburaman Vijayalakshmi,
who won her third title in the last five years. The star from Indian Airlines
opened her campaign with a loss against Swati Ghate and then steamrolled past the
opposition with seven straight wins for a comfortable home run, clinching the title with a
round to spare. Vijayalakshmi has been the strongest player in the country for quite
sometime now and her performance confirms it.The
race for the other three qualifying spots was quite intense with around half-a-dozen
players remaining in the fray till the last round. Experienced Bhagyashree Thipsay,
promising Swati and early leader Safira Shahnaz claimed the next three places thus
qualifying to represent India for the next year. Except for the title race, it was a bumpy
ride for the other qualifiers who suffered a few losses.
The cynosure of all eyes was the young Humpy who came up
with another creditable performance of 7/12 which fetched her the WOMEN INTERNATIONAL
MASTER title. It was a culmination of her two excellent WIM Norm shows earlier in the year
at Goodricke Open'99 at Calcutta and the Commonwealth Championships at Bikaner. Her third
norm at National "A" confirms her norms requirements, thus making her the
youngest ASIAN to get the WIM title at 12 years of age. With a mature head on young
shoulders, the world is going to hear a lot more of this girl from Andhra.
For the consistent Swati, this is another of those
cup-and-lip affair. She has been a title contender for the past few years and her second
place finish left her a little disappointed. Safira, the WIM Norm holder from Anna
University - Chennai, scaled a new peak when she entered the top four. The hardworking
girl will get greater opportunities to represent in the coming year, when she can
hopefully complete her norm requirements. Bhagyashree Thipsay, who finished behind Viji,
Swati and Safira, managed to catch the bus in the right time and extend her lease in
representing India for another twelve months. With a WGM norm show at the Commonwealth
Championships in the first part of the year, she should be hoping to repeat her good show
in the forthcoming tournaments.
Humpy and Anupama finished fifth and sixth but it should
be very disappointing for the former champion Anupama, who with her vast experience failed
to clinch a berth. Despite the absence of Saheli Barua, who was forced to play the
Inter-Railway Tournament during the same time, it was a highly competitive and interesting
National "A" with two Chennai girls and two from Maharashtra taking the final
honours.
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