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 Hotel
Savera one of the oldest and premier hotels in the city was the scene
of celebration as yet another chess queen from the city, J E Kavitha,
was honored today i.e., Monday the 28th May, 2001. The
Rotary Club of Madras Central honoured the chess prodigy J E Kavitha by conferring the YOUTH MERIT AWARD on
her, in a function organised by Thiruvallur District Chess
Association.
The
award was conferred on Kavitha due to her fine show in Chennai last
year when she convincingly defended her National Under 18 title. This is
Kavitha's fifth National Title. She has won the U-10 Girls in 1992, the U-12 Girls in 1995, the U-15 Girls in 1997 and the U-18 title for the first time in November 2000. She has represented India in Germany, Brazil, Armenia and in the Asian Under-16 Girls in 1998 behind
Aarthie.
"Chess, the game
which", says Voltaire, "reflects most honour on human
wit", was first played in ancient India. Certain similarities exist between modern chess and an Indian game called "Chathuranga", which dates back to the 5th century A D. Its original name in Sanskrit was
Chathuranga meaning 'four arms' or 'four members'. It was also the Indian word for army, especially to the four components of the army.
In the 6th century, it spread from India to Persia, and a little later the Arabs learned the game. Chess entered Europe round about the 10th century. Years have rolled by and the chess has grown. The modern era of chess, however, may be said to date back to the 17th century, when the pieces gained their present form. By the 20th century, chess has spread all over the World. FIDE, the World Chess Federation was founded in 1924 to promote this most dynamic sport. The advent of the Internet took the game to new heights. It is the only type of sport, which allows real competitions to be held in virtual space. Today, chess is one of the most mass based games in the world. In
over 159 countries under the auspices of FIDE, 6 million players are registered and take part in over 5000 different tournaments every year. The public taking regular interest in chess adds up to over 700 million people. Today in India, there are 10 million chess-lovers, and the number is
swelling, thanks largely due to the exploits worldwide of our World
Champion Viswanathan Anand, who brought back the title to the place of
its birth.  When the previous National Under - 18 Girls championship was held at Jamshedpur,
Bihar J E Kavitha did not travel with others, as she had to take an examination. Still, she could have arrived just in time for the start. But her train was late and se arrived at the venue one hour after the first round began. She forfeited her first round. But the eventual winner was Kavitha! This shows the fighting spirit of this 16 year old from Christ King Matriculation Girls
School, Tambaram, Chennai. This time, on home ground, there was no first round hiccup. She took the lead after five rounds and by the eighth round had retained her title with a round to spare.
Among those who presided over the function were Mr D V Sundar, Vice
President, AICF, Mr Manuel Aaron, Gen Secy, TNCA and Rotarians PHF S
Sampath, C Venkat, PHF Brij Kahdelwal and N Thirumurthy.
Born on 3rd January 1984 at Thirukkovilur, to Jhansi and Emayavaramban (that is how she derives her initials J E), she was only 16 when she played in the World U-18 Girls last year at Spain. Playing against girls much older than her, she did
moderately. But she has gained a lot of maturity and confidence from this exposure. She expects to do well in her second attempt at the World Under-18 Girls Championship this year. After all, she is following exactly Aarthie Ramaswamys's footsteps. Aarthie won the
National U-18 Girls twice and won the World U-18 Girls Championship at Spain in her second attempt.
Kavitha's
triumph at Chennai
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