The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Vijayalakshmi starts favourite

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Thursday, Dec 07, 2006
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Vijayalakshmi starts favourite

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman of Indian Airlines will start the 33rd Win TV National Women's `A' Chess Championship beginning here on Thursday as the favourite. The 33-player event will be held on a 11-round Swiss format at the Hotel Sangeetha Residency in Mylapore in Chennai.

Six-time champion Vijayalakshmi has not won the National Women's title since Lucknow, 2002. She will be looking for her seventh title this year.

Her major rival will be the defending champion Swati Ghate of LIC, Pune. The Swiss format itself will ensure that the race is close. The battle for the top six places will be hot as eight of India's nine woman grandmasters are in the line-up. World No.2 Koneru Humpy is not required to play and is also in Qatar.

Plenty of players are knocking on the WIM and WGM titles and this event should give most of the competitors an opportunity to complete or make maiden title norms. National player V. Hariharan of Indian Bank, Chennai is the chief arbiter.

In the 32 times this prestigious event was conducted since 1974, only 12 players have won it. Four woman grandmasters who have not yet won it are S. Meenakshi (TN), Eesha Karavade (Mah), D. Harika (AP) and Tania Sachdev (Del). Karavade and Harika have had a good year so far and could capture the title

The event carries a total prize money of Rs 1.35 lakhs. The chess fans of Chennai will get a rare chance to witness one of Asia's top women's events. It is the third time that Chennai is staging this event after 1979 and 1995.

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