Vijayalakshmi assured
national crown

Woman Grandmaster Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi of Indian Airlines assured herself the national title for the fourth time in a row after outmanoeuvring M R Sangeetha of Tamil Nadu in the 11th round of the National women's 'A' chess championship in Delhi on Wednesday.

With two more rounds remaining in the 27th edition of the tournament, Vijaylakshmi, with 9.5 points, has an unassailable 2.5 point lead over her nearest rivals IWMs Swati Ghate of LIC and Subbaraman Meenakshi of Indian Airlines.

With the title already assured, Vijayalakshmi is likely to go all out in the next two games against IWMs Saheli Barua of South Eastern Railways and Bhagyashree Thipsay of IDBI.

The race for the other three coveted slots, that will comprise the Indian team, heated up, and IWMs Aarthie Ramaswamy of Wipro, Anupama Gokhale of PSCB and Thipsay kept themselves in contention with hard fought games on Wednesday. All the three players have 6.5 points each.

Vijayalakshmi had to sweat it hard against lowly-placed Sangeetha in the Trompowvsky game with black pieces. The middlegame was balanced and Sangeetha went on an exchanging spree only to find her Knight outcast at the edge of the board. It took a big effort for Sangeetha to get pieces right but she fumbled in the last hour to allow Vijayalakshmi to win the vital king pawn and the game in 55 moves.

Meenakshi defeated Asian zonal champion IWM Pallavi Shah of LIC in a Benoni defence game with white pieces. It was not a normal position in the middlegame but Meenakshi carved out a fine plan and got space advantage.

Pallavi offered a draw after attaining a near symmetrical pawn structure on the 22nd move but that was promptly turned down by Meenakshi who had gained some ground on the kingside.

It was a tactical shot that cast the dye decisively in Meenakshi's favour on the 25th move and she romped home with her extra material in 39 moves.

Swati faced a not-so-popular line of the Ruy Lopez by Saimeera Ravi of BSB and equalised with the black pieces in the middlegame. The queens got traded on the 23rd move and Swati pressed slowly in the minor pieces to register a smooth victory in 56 moves.

In the modern defence game with black pieces, Anupama got the better of IWM Nisha Mohota of LIC. Nisha went for a direct attack against the king with centre closed but it boomeranged on her as Anupama got her act together on the other flank. The game lasted 54 moves.

Results of Round 11: R Aarthie (6.5) bt Harika Dronavalli (4.5); Saimeera Ravi (4.5) lost to Swati Ghate (7); M R Sangeetha (3.5) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (9.5); Saheli Dhar Barua (5.5) bt Dolan Champa Bose (3.5); Bhagyashree Thipsay (6.5) drew Y Pratibha (4.5); Nisha Mohota (5.5) lost to Anupama Gokhale (6); S Meenakshi (7) bt Pallavi Shah (3).