Gender and Chess - The Ever-Changing, Never-Ending Question...

The Neglected World of Women's Chess

"Neglected World of Women's Chess"

The Hindu - Feb. 19, 2000

In a country which saw its first Grandmaster in 1987, the wait for the first Woman Grandmaster still continues. It is not that there is dearth of talent to don the mantle but a clear lack of opportunities for the talented girls to have a `go' at the coveted title.

For long, the paucity of testing chess tournaments for women remained a major hindrance for norm-seekers. From the 1970s when the famed Khadilkar sisters ruled the roost, women's chess has come a long way - not because of a change in the system but despite it. Still a lot needs to be done.

Today, an active Bhagyashree Thipsay represents the old order, the emergence of Koneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev and more recently Aarthie Ramaswamy, depicts the challenge posed by the new kids on the block. In between, there is a player like Vijayalakshmi, arguably the strongest woman player at present in the country, with over a decade and a half of competitive chess behind her. She may have narrowly missed the limited chances that came her way to complete the WGM title-requirements, but there is no denying the fact that only if the opportunities were more, the pressure on her would have been much less.

Everyone cannot be as consistent as Viswanathan Anand, who made three Grandmaster norms in the space of six months in the second half of 1987 and that too, without losing a single norm-game. And once he broke the barrier, there was no looking back. But then, none was as abundantly talented and adequately resourceful as Anand.

Coming back to the state of women's chess in the country, the need of the hour is to organise tournaments offering norms for women. So far, the norm-seekers are expected to make the grade in open tournaments, where the requirement is that much higher. Vijayalakshmi, who made her third WGM norm in the Asian Chess Championship at Udaipur recently, had made her previous two norms in open Swiss-league tournaments in Linares and Calcutta. Her recent effort was the first of its kind in an all-woman field.

``Chess has grown to quite an extent but not at the rate it should have,'' feels 20-year-old Vijayalakshmi, who has been on the competitive circuit since she was three-and-a-half years old. ``There is too much focus on age-group chess but very little for those in the senior ranks. After National `A' and Goodricke tournament (in Calcutta) there is nothing really to look forward to. What we need is norm-opportunities and there can be nothing better than organising closed (round-robin) tournaments in India. Look at a tiny nation like Vietnam, it has WGMs to show but we are still looking for our first,'' says Vijayalakshmi, who is close to achieving the distinction.

Indebted to the pains taken by her father and support given by family and friends while pursuing a career in chess, Vijayalakshmi was indeed lucky to get encouraging senior colleagues like Mr. M. S. Balakrishnan (Secretary, Indian Airlines Sports Control Board) and Mr. Sampat Kumar (General Manager, Personnel). It is due to their unrelenting support, that Vijayalakshmi can well become a kind of `barrier-breaker' in the otherwise neglected world of women's chess.

The fact remains that even in men's chess, the time has come to organise norm-tournaments at home, with attractive prize-money.

After the formation of the breakaway Soviet Republics, it has become easier to get strong chess players from the region to play in invitational tournaments. So India should take the lead in hosting a series of round-robin tournaments at different venues so as to not only generate fresh interest in chess but also sustain it over a period of time. There is little doubt that such an effort will soon bear fruits and give the much- needed fillip to the game.

Similarly, invitational fields for women will ensure opportunities for the likes of Vijayalakshmi, Bhagyashree, Swati Ghate, Safira Shanaz, Anupama Gokhale, Humpy, Aarthie and others. One can well imagine the media-hype as and when India gets its first Woman Grandmaster. That will also do a world of good for chess in general and women's chess in particular. Also, chess needs the attention of the corporate world and there could be nothing better than doing the needful to ensure the making of a WGM at home.

It is not that only women players need attention. Besides the leading men and age-group players, there are host of players like Sandipan Chanda, R. B. Ramesh, P. Konguvel, etc., who can benefit a great deal from the hosting of `closed' tournaments. Let the man in form or nearest to making the GM-norm be given suitable opportunities. Things can change more dramatically than most people imagine.

The All India Chess Federation, with the active involvement of its resourceful secretary, Mr. P. T. Ummer Koya, who also doubles up as the FIDE vice-president, can seek the available government assistance to organise such events. Wide media coverage can also help in a big way in promoting the discipline. Should the Indians succeed in making it `big', individual sponsorship should not be too far.

Another thing which needs to be done is to generate awareness of chess ratings. Perhaps, the most scientifically devised method of evaluating an individual's playing strength, the Elo ratings used in chess remains the true index of a player's capabilities. Too much importance is laid on a player's ability to win titles and due significance is not given to an individual's meteoric rise in ratings. After all, a player is gauged more by his current ratings than his list of past exploits.

RAKESH RAO

New Delhi