Veni,vidi,vishy:Part VII

In March 1986 Anand participated in the National ‘A’ Championship in Mumbai. This was his third attempt. He started with a defeat in the hands of D.V.Prasad and also lost one more game to the tailender A.K.Sinha in the middle of the tournament. Undeterred by these setbacks, he played steadily, to reach a winning tally of 12 points out of 18. The following game is a battle of generations:

The Championship was a close race.Anand’s main rivals, D.V. Prasad and Lanka Ravi both scored 11.5 points. On tie-break Prasad was declared 2^nd and Lanka Ravi 3^rd.  They were followed by Sharad Tilak, Raja Ravisekhar and Meetei with 11 points. Pravin Thipsay, the reigning champion scored only 10.5 points. He was bogged down by draws, and further handicapped himself with losses to newcomers, Pavanasam and Subramanian.Veteran Arun Vaidya also scored 10.5 points, and fared no better.Dibyendu Barua was in poor form and scored only 8.5 points.So Anand was the National Champion. At 16 he was the youngest player to win the title.A new era began in Indian chess.

Concluded

Note:Anand (b.11^th December, 1969) recently turned 40.

(Courtesy:Chess Mate magazine, India)

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