WIN TV to host 33rd National Women "A" Chess Championship

Chennai, Dec 6 (UNI) On the heels of the Grandmaster Koneru Humpy winning the first Gold Medal for India in the Asiad at Doha, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) came forward to host the Win TV 33rd National Women ''A'' Chess Championship, 2006 in Chennai from Dec 7 to 16.

The tournament will be held at the Hotel Sangeetha Residency, Luz Corner, in the heart of Mylapore, where chess had flourished from early 1930s. If Mylapore was one of the early chess centres like Sangli, Hyderabad or Pune in India, it is fitting that Super Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, who is on a short stay here, will inaugurate the meet.

Starting tomorrow, the event would be a round-robin for a maximum of 20 players. But, from this year onwards, it takes the form of a eleven-round Swiss with more than 30 players or so.

With the inclusion of all the nine Woman Grandmasters, top 20 players from the National Woman B this year, four seeded and two top Junior girls and one wild card entry by AICF, making it a total of 36, the Federation hopes to to rope in the cream of woman chess every year for the international tournaments.

But this year, among the 36 expected, Koneru Humpy had to be excused because of her participation in the on-going team chess at the Doha Asiad and so also the local girl P Sivasankari and International Woman Master Mary Ann Gomes of West Bengal for personal commitments, leaving it in all 33 players vying for coveted title. Besides the reigning Indian Woman Champion WGM Swati Ghate of Maharashtra, the fans here would also witness WGM sisters Vijayalakshmi and Meenakshi in action after a long time.

The arrangements were made for the event by the AICF and the Tamil Nadu Chess Association.

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