NEW DELHI, November 6: A move is afoot to make the National A chess championships more competitive and attractive from its present long 17-round all-play-all format. At the All-India Chess Federation's Council meeting in Delhi, the national body has decided to ask the the Players' Council - of which Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua is the chairman and GM Pravin Thipsay, the secretary - their opinion on the matter.The AICF secretary, PT Ummer Koya, also the vice-president of the FIDE, said, ``The plan, subject to agreement with the Players' Council, is to have about 30 players qualifying from the National B every year and join the top 10 of the previous year. The tournament will then be made a 13-round Swiss Tournament.``Why we want the players opinion is because it is they who are going to play. So their consent is very necessary and we have always had a good rapport with the players and have liked the idea of Players' Council from its very beginning,'' said Koya.The advantage in such a format is that more player will get to play he National A, which is the criteria for selecting Indian teams for the biennial Olympiad and other tournaments. Also, many players in recent times have complained about the length of the National A, which currently lasts about 20 days and has 17 rounds with 18 players. ``We have heard players saying they get tired and exhausted during the last stages of the tournament,'' added Koya.In recent years there has been a lot of premium on qualifying for the National A and often some International Masters have been missing the cut by failing to make top 10 in National B. Currently, top six from previous National A, the top 10 of National B and the two Grandmasters are expected to play in the National A. Viswanathan Anand has not played the National A for a good number of years and very clearly it would be difficult to expect him to do that in the near future.``Having a Swiss tournament could also help in getting GM norms in the future. In recent years we have had many players making IM norms in National A. We visualise a situation soon when GM norms should be possible as the average rating of the national A is increasing almost every year,'' added Koya. Once Abhijit Kunte, K Sashikiran, the two who have been doing well of late, and also DV Prasad, also manage to make the GM grade, India would have five to six Grandmasters - and assuming Anand still does not play it would still mean a very high quality National A.The AICF is hoping to get a response from the Players Council before its next meeting in January and it could then officially implement it and put it into operation for the National A from 1999. And the National B in 1998 would thus see more berths for the 1999 National A.Once India has a fair number of high rated (around and above 2500) players AICF hopes to organise a few tournaments, other than the annual Nationals, where GM norms could be made. At the Council meeting, AICF has also decided to finalise its Long-Term Development Programme and submit it to the government.
