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Vijayalakshmi set to complete a 'trick'

National women's champion S Vijayalakshmi is well on course to a hat-trick of titles. She took a firm step in that direction by defeating world under-18 girls' champion Aarthie Ramaswamy in the 12th and penultimate round of the Mayor's Cup 26th National women's 'A' chess championship, organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association, on Monday.

The victory saw her points tally swell to 8.5 out of 12. She is well ahead of second placed Saheli Dhar Barua, who has 7.5 points, and needs only a draw in her concluding match to make it three-in-a-row.

All eyes were on the Vijayalakshmi - Aarthie game on the first table. Aarthie, playing white, opened with 1.e1 to which Viji answered with Ruy Lopez. The game went into the lines of the closed system, till the 11th move when Viji deviated from the theory and played 11..Be5. With a subsequent exchange of knights, Aarthie hocked her own bishop by recapturing with pawn on the d5 square. Sacrificing a pawn on b4, Viji got a firm post for her bishop on d4 and tightened her grip on the position. Taking advantage of the initiative, Viji pushed her 'e' and 'i' pawns forward in a decisive attack against the white king. Aarthie tried to put up some resistance, but the time pressure aggravated her position and she gave up after the 36th move when she blundered a rook.

S Meenakshi, playing white against S Sujatha, answered the king's Indian with Fianchetto variation. Sujatha played a new move on 11th, taking her knight to b8 following which Meenakshi closed the center with d5 . Thereafter Meenakshi gradually built up pressure on the queen's side with a systematic push of the b and a pawns. Sujatha tried to create play on the king's side, but by exchanging the white squared bishop and then the queen, Meenakshi eliminated any threats to her king. The open b file was dominated by white's rooks and Meenakshi, with a neat tactical stroke, won a pawn and created a protected passed pawn of her own. The remaining game was a matter of technique in which Meenakshi did not falter. Sujatha resigned on 55th move.

In the game of veterans, Bhagyashree Thipsay, with black, answered Anupama's d4 with the lesser-known Tehigorin defence. On the fifth move, Anupama accepted a pawn offer and allowed black to gain dynamic counterplay for the sacrificed pawn. After an early exchange of queens, Bhagyashree exchanged white's active bishop and started opening lines for the own pieces. But steadily exchanging off the pieces Anupama returned the pawn and in the process obtained an equal position. Both the players settled for a dawn on the 28th move. Bhagyashree still has some hopes to enter the Indian team of four players for the chess Olympiads, if she wins tomorrow against Neha Singh.

Neha Singh (Bihar) played solidly today and forced IWM Swati Ghate (LIC) to agree for a draw, destroying all her hopes of finishing in the top four. Swati, playing with black, opened wth her favourite Sicilian Paulsen. A new move by the Bihar girl saw Swati react over ambitiously allowing too much activity to white's pieces.

Neha exploited her lead in development and forced Swati to give up a pawn. Swati entered the endgame with a pawn loss but defended well to secure a draw.

Saheli Dhar Barua and Pallavi Shah agreed to a quick draw without taking unnecessary risk. Saheli slipped to the third position and a draw tomorrow will suffice to earn her a place in the Indian team as well as her third and final IWM norm, whereas Pallavi has to win her last round game against Baisakhi Das.

Points position after round 12
S Vijaylaksmi (8.5), Saheli Dhar Barua (7.5), Sswati Gahte (7), S Meenakshi, Pallavi Shah, Bhagyashree Thipsay, Safira Shahnae (all 4.5), Anupama Gokhale (5.5), R Aarthie (5), S Sujatha, Y Pratibha (both 3.5), Neha Singh (3), Baisakhi Das (1.5).