OVERCOMING stiff competition with her pluck and resilience, Bhagyashree Thipsay crowned herself with glory by winning the title in the 28th YMCA National 'B' women's chess championship conducted at the YMCA premises in Visakhapatnam recently.
Some hard fought contests were seen over the 11 rounds of competition. But one aspect which became clear towards the closing stages was that most of the top rung players were playing safe and going for draws. Their main objective was to qualify for the National 'A' championship.
The top 10 finishers who qualified for the National 'A' were: Bhagyashree Thipsay (IDBI), Tania Sachdev (Delhi), Saheli Dhar Barua (Railways), Anupama Gokhale (PSCB), Dolan Champa Bose (Jharkhand), Pallavi G. Shah (LIC), Sai Meera Ravi (Indian Bank), Eesha Karwade (Maharashtra), Safira Shanaz (Tamil Nadu) and D. Harika (Andhra Pradesh).
The seeded players had an easy time in the initial rounds. After an uneventful first two rounds, Bhagyashree defeated Purabhi Singha of Assam in the third round and then in the fourth she consolidated her position by getting the better of J. E. Kavitha. So, the second day was a good one for Bhagyashree. By the end of the fourth round of competitons, Bhagyashree had made her way to the top of the points tally and at that stage she shared the top spot with Pallavi Shah, who also chalked up two victories, first over S. Sujatha of Tamil Nadu and then over Kruthika Nadig of Maharashtra.
From then on, Bhagyashree never looked back. She established her position as the leader and continued to maintain the lead all the way till the end of the championship.
On the other hand, Anupama Gokhale was held to draws in both rounds. In the third round, young Eesha Karwade held the top seed to a draw and in the fourth round it was Sowmya Swaminathan. Saheli Dhar Barua had mixed luck, drawing with M. R. Sangeetha and then beating Arpi Shah.
The fifth and sixth rounds were the crucial ones for Bhagyashree. In the fifth Bhagyashree clashed with Pallavi Shah and the former's victory in 40 moves gave a major boost to her chances in the tournament. This victory was a very important one for Bhagyashree. In the evening (sixth round), Bhagyashree took on another strong contestant, Saheli Dhar Barua. But this match did not provide any fireworks, for the two players agreed to a draw after only 11 moves.
However, the result meant that at the end of the day, Bhagyashree emerged as the sole leader. Pallavi, after losing to Bhagyashree in the morning, drew her evening sixth round match against Tania Sachdev.
Meanwhile, Tania Sachdev was making rapid strides. In the fifth round she beat D. Harika in a marathon 65-move contest and in the sixth, Tania held fifth-seeded Pallavi Shah to a draw.
The next day saw Tania come up with more sterling performances. In the morning Tania drew with Bhagyashree and in the evening she also held Anupama Gokhale to a draw.
Tania was in great form in the match against Anupama. The match was a Queens gambit accepted opening wherein both players reached an end game position by the 16th move. Tania was doing well till she made a small error and lost a pawn. Anupama had the upper hand at that stage, but she faltered and frittered away the advantage. Ultimately the game ended in a draw after 55 moves.
In the seventh round Anupama chalked out an important win over Saheli Dhar Barua. The latter, playing white, made a cautious start but after the 13th move Anupama managed to wrest the initiative. Saheli continued to defend to the best of her ability, but Anupama came up with some brilliant combinations to force a win in 42 moves.
In the ninth round, the major attraction was the game between Safira Shanaz and Nisha Mohota. The 24-year-old Safira of Tamil Nadu played great chess in the initial stages and quickly gained the upper hand. She had a golden chance to beat Nisha and thereby draw level with Bhagyashree as the joint leader.
Playing white, Safira began on a confident note and by the middle game was a pawn up. She developed her position well and at one stage seemed certain of victory. For the first time that day, there was a sense of excitement in the arena as Safira and Nisha battled it out long after all the other boards had ended in draws.
But luck was not with Safira. Despite having territorial and numerical advantage, she was unable to come up with a winning combination and Nisha hung on determinedly till time ran out and this contest also ended in a draw after 49 moves.
Bhagyashree Thipsay drew her 10th round match with Sai Meera Ravi and the stage was set for the last round with Bhagyahsree still in the lead with a half- point edge over 11 other players.
In the last round Bhagsyshree finished off in style. She overcame Nisha Mohota to win the title by chalking out 8.5 points, a clear one point lead over 13 other players who each had 7.5 points and had to be placed according to progressive scores.
Tania Sachdev finished second. It was a remarkable performance from this 10th standard Delhi schoolgirl whose casual style of playing and calm face hid a steely resolve and sharp mental abilities. "I felt all the games were very tough, but the one against Anupama was very tiring and also the one against Harika," said Tania.
Andhra lass Harika managed to squeeze into the list of qualifiers. A lot was expected from her after her splendid showing in the previous National 'A' wherein she defeated some of the best players in the country, but her performance at Vizag had its ups and downs. But there was a sense of relief among the local fans once it became clear that she had qualified.
Most of the players were unanimous in their opinion that the tournament, which attracted a record 100 plus entries, was conducted well and there were no complaints or protests.
IF there was one thing which made Bhagyashree Thipsay stand out from the rest during the women's National 'B' chess championship in Visakhapatnam recently, it was her steely determination to win. Her remarkable motivation and fighting spirit were also major plus points.
All these years of having played the sport at the highest level and the numerous trophies she has bagged have not satiated the hunger for victory in this outstanding player. Countless matches against various kinds of opponents, many hard fought battles as well as some easy ones, have not robbed her game of any of its sharpness.
If anything, she is now a more focussed and more motivated player. Her experience gives her the advantage of knowing exactly when to go all out, when to hold back and when to go for a quick, easy draw in order to preserve her energies for the bigger challenges that may lie ahead.
Her ability to conceptualise an overall strategy, keeping in mind the main contenders in any particular tournament, and her ability to employ this strategy effectively, if necessary with some adaptations, give her a big advantage over many a less experienced player at this level in the country.
Her campaign in the National 'B' was an ideal example of how she can chalk out a plan to suit the requirements and execute it to perfection.
Unlike some of the other top ranked players in the fray, she preferred to go flat out right from the beginning. No doubt, her primary objective was to qualify for the National 'A', but this was not her only goal. The other ambition was to win this tournament. In this she differed from some of the others. Judging from their approach in the tournament, a few of the other leading players seemed to be happy enough only to qualify and did not stretch themselves to try and win the title.
Perhaps the most crucial day for Bhagyashree was the third, when she played in the fifth and sixth rounds.
In the fifth, Bhagyashree beat fifth-seeded Pallavi Shah (who previously was the joint leader with Bhagyashree). Bhagyashree was playing white and her opponent Pallavi opted for a closed Sicillian defence. The contest developed into an interesting battle of wits. Pallavi went in for castling after 20 moves, by which time Bhagyashree had gradually developed her position on the board. Both players executed some well planned moves, but the edge that Bhagyashree had got in the initial stages stood her in good stead and she tenaciously hung on to this slight advantage to go on to record a win after 40 moves.
In the evening's sixth round match, Bhagayshree went in for a draw with Saheli Dhar Barua. At the end of the day Bhagyashree was the sole leader - a position which she did not relinquish till the end of the tournament.
"I wanted to win this title and not merely qualify," said Bhagyashree later. "The competition was tough here, but by the end of the fifth round I was quite certain that I would qualify. But then, having made sure of that objective, I thereafter concentrated on winning the title and I did not take any match lightly," she said.
Talking about the level of competition in general, she said that she was happy to see so many youngsters doing well in the sport.
"It is a good sign that so many young players are taking to this sport. Moreover, they are doing well in it. I am sure we will see many top level players emerge from among these youngsters in the near future," said Bhagyashree.
"But we need to have more GM level tournaments exclusively for women in our country. Then only do we have a realistic chance of getting the badly needed exposure and improve our standards," she concluded by saying.
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