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Pilloo Mody international rating tourney from today

By Rakesh Rao

LUCKNOW SEPT. 18. Four major international rating chess tournaments on the trot. A total of 42 games spread over 28 playing days at four venues are sure to test the strength and stamina of those planning to play them all over the next month. Equally important is the accumulated prize-fund of Rs. 13.01 lakhs on offer. The players, in pursuit of rating points or even norms, seldom had it this good.

The caravan begins its journey with the Pilloo Mody international rating event beginning here on Friday before moving to Saharanpur (Sept. 27 to Oct. 1), New Delhi (Oct. 3 to 10) and Jamshedpur (Oct. 13 to 20).

The organisers here are hoping the total entries to cross 200, more than ever in the past 23 editions of this annual event. International Master R. B. Ramesh, the 2002 British champion and winner of the National `B' title last month, will be playing his first competitive match after getting married to Woman Grandmaster Aarthie Ramaswamy last month. However, Aarthie will return to competition in New Delhi and continue at Jamshedpur.

The fact that Ramesh has remained unbeaten in three successive tournaments — the Adyar Open in Chennai, the National team championship at Vijayawada and the National `B' at Nagpur — makes him a strong contender for the winner's share of Rs. 40,000. He admitted that he was not able to prepare seriously in recent times. But knowing Ramesh's calibre and quality of play, his challenge cannot be discounted.

Going by the rating of the players in the field, Ramesh stands between defending champion Sriram Jha and Woman Grandmaster S. Vijayalakshmi. The list of IMs include S. Satyapragyan, N. Sudhakar Babu, Dinesh Sharma, Prathamesh Mokal, T. S. Ravi, Neeraj Kumar Mishra, Anup Deshmukh, Varugeese Koshy, Poobesh Anand and P. Konguvel. The country's latest WGM Nisha Mohota and Woman International Master Swati Ghate are also in the fray.

Primarily, the tournament offers a good opportunity for the players to enhance their ratings. A player like Ramesh, who holds two Grandmaster-norms will be eager to add to the gain in rating

from Nagpur. Presently rated at 2440, Ramesh's aim is to gradually raise it to 2500 which is a stipulation to gain the Grandmaster title should he complete his third norm.

Among the ladies, Vijayalakshmi will be keen to leave Lucknow on a triumphant note just she did last summer by claiming her sixth succesive women's National `A' title. Having lost the title to Aarthie in January, Vijayalakshmi has had a mixed year so far. Victory over women's World champion Zhu Chen was the highlight of Vijayalakshmi's performance in the Asian team championship at Jodhpur.

This followed her superlative showing in the Commonwealth championship when she claimed the women's title and finished second overall. However, in the British championship, she finished poorly after a rousing start. Her outing in Holland, too, was forgettable. In the Asian women's championship at Kozhikode, she finished eighth, well behind champion Koneru Humpy and silver-

medallist Dronavalli Harika. No doubt, over the next one month, Vijayalakshmi has plenty to play for.

Swati and her LIC teammate Nisha, too, will have reasons to be inspired. The two failed to book their berths for the World championship after finishing a distant 26th and 27th at Kozhikode. It remains to be seen how they perform in a field dotted with several IMs.

With the country's Grandmasters and some other IMs willing to join the action only in New Delhi and Jamshedpur, this event and the one at Saharanpur, offers good opportunities for many lesser players to finish high on the prize-list.

After Friday's opening round, the following four days will see two rounds each. The last two days will witness only a round each. Overall, the event promises plenty of action.

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