Tania Talks

‘Championship luck clinched it for me’ From The Hindu online, September 15, 2007 NEW DELHI: Tania Sachdev is almost tired of silencing her critics. Even after 13 years of competitive chess and winning National, British, Commonwealth, Asian and World championship medals, she remains one of the players whose efforts continued to be discounted by the cynics in the country’s chess circles. But Tania’s triumph in the Asian women’s championship earlier this week in Teheran to go with the National title she claimed in Chennai last December, should add some new names to her list of admirers. Apart from her exploits in chess, Tania also gets noticed for being articulate unlike most of her peers. She is never shy of speaking her mind on subjects that most Indian champions dread to discuss before the media. On Friday, Tania met and charmed the capital’s mediapersons with her replies. She was quizzed about everything from her chess, to her wardrobe, to her “best friend” P. Hari Krishna and her personal life among other things. Tania’s character came out stronger as she handled the volley of questions with ease and élan. Good show “Honestly, I was only aiming to qualify for the World Cup by finishing in the top three of the Asian championship,” said the 21-year-old about her campaign in Teheran and continued, “call it the ‘Championship luck’ that came by way in the eighth and penultimate round against China’s Huang Qian. It was a dead drawn position when Qian overlooked a check, lost her bishop and eventually the game. The victory left me with needing a draw in the final round for the title.” The Iranian Capital is very dear to Tania since she has always returned with a medal on every appearance in the Asian age-groups championships. “The organisers jokingly offered me citizenship and wanted me to settle down in Teheran since I have done so well there,” said Tania referring to her gold medals in the Asian under-14 (in 2000), the Asian under-16 (2001) and the bronze medal in the Asian junior (in 2002). “This sure is the biggest triumph of my career. The field was very tough with the Chinese and the Vietnamese girls threatening to fill the top three places. Since I had not done so well in the Asian Zonals (in Dhaka last month), I was keen to make amends,” was her candid remark. Thanks her coaches She thanked her coaches Israel’s Lev Psakhis, Poland’s Michal Krasenkow and local International Master Vishal Sareen for guiding her in the past year. “These men helped me gain a lot on the psychological front. But I need to work a lot harder on my opening repertoire before I go for the Asian Indoor Games in Macau and the World Cup,” said Tania whose rating is set to cross the 2400-mark on October 1. When quizzed about the contribution of Grandmaster Hari Krishna to her chess, Tania laughed loudly and said, “Hari and I have been friends since we were nine years old. He is my best pal and we discuss all the chess gossip, but not chess, when we meet. But during tournaments I stay in touch with him and discus my game. I know he is there to help.”