Unbeaten: Tania, the leading light and firefighter of India A team, continues to dazzle
A lot of India A team’s success owes to Tania and her unstoppable form. Tania had been her team's leading light as well as the firefighter.
Usually, as soon as she makes a move, Tania Sachdev swishes her curls back, gets off the chair and takes a languid stroll along the hallway, often pausing beside her teammates and gazing at their board. Her face is impassive. Outside the game hall, she can be the most expressive of chess players, but inside the quiet ambience of the chess ring, she is economical with her expressions, except for her eyes that hold the mirror to her mind.
Her eyes talk vividly; observe those and you realise the state of her game, almost a running commentary. A melange of emotions flicker back and forth, from joy to rage, and angst to doubts. When the match against Georgia’s Salome Melia began, her eyes were tranquil. The early manoeuvres were all by the book, too bookish—a Ruy Lopez opening, one of the most classical openings in the game named after a 16th century Spanish priest (who did not become a bishop though!), followed by the Morphy Defense, by far Black’s most popular early move in the Ruy Lopez line.
The thread became clear—both wanted to trade shadow punches at each other before unleashing the full-bloodied hooks and punches. Steadily, often taking an eternity for moves, they plastered the base like an assiduous mason, slowly fixing the gaps, the minute loopholes cracks, arranging the troops in the perfect order. This was not going to be a game of ambush, but one of straight bunker to bunker firing. It was just the matter of the king firing the orders. The orders came quite late in the game—on the 14th move, after almost two hours of careful positioning, into the game. Tania’s eyes firmed up like those of an Army General before belting out the shooting orders.
TANIA SACHDEV: Remember the name ?
35-year-old Woman Grandmaster Tania Sachdev has been in top-notch form in the ongoing Chess Olympiad and has bailed India 1 women’s team out of crunch situations on several occasions ??@FIDE_chess pic.twitter.com/i2nPRwpp4e
Rating: 5