Keen tussle for berths

The National will be a 13-round Swiss league tournament with the top 13 players joining six to do battle in the National A Championships. The six who need not play this championships are K Sasikiran, P Thipsay, A Kunte, V Saravanan, GB Prakash and DV Prasad.

There will also be many women competing with their focus being to play in stronger tournament than they can get to play in. But for National Women8217;s A Champion, S Vijayalakshmi, the ambition will be to get into the top 13 andplay the National men8217;s A Championships.

She came close to qualifying twice but has failed. If she qualifies she will be the first women to qualify in the history of women8217;s chess in the country.

Of course Viji is not the only woman participating. Those who have landed include Swati Ghate, Mohota sisters, Nisha and Swati and S Meenakshi among the others.

Each state is allowed four entries with donor entries making the National B Chess tournament, among the biggest and the prestigious in the country.

With the first 13 players qualifying for the National A, the scramble will be to avoid more than two defeats. A player with 10 points should count himself through.