Her irrepressible form are crucial for a team’s triumph. Tania had been the firefighter and the leader of her crew.
Tania Sachdev usually swishes her curls back, gets out of her chair, and takes a leisurely stroll down the hallway, frequently pausing beside her teammates and gazing at their board. Her expression is expressionless. Outside the game hall, she can be the most expressive of chess players, but inside the chess ring, she is frugal with her expressions, except for her eyes, which serve as a mirror to her mind.
Observing her eyes reveals the state of her game, almost like a running commentary. A jumble of emotions flickers back and forth, from joy to rage, angst to doubts. As the match against Georgia’s Salome Melia began, her eyes were calm. The early moves were all too textbook—a Ruy Lopez opening named after a 16th century Spanish priest (who did not become a bishop! ), followed by the Morphy Defense, Black’s most popular early move in the Ruy Lopez line.
The common thread emerged: both wanted to trade shadow punches before unleashing the full-bloodied hooks and punches. They plastered the base like an assiduous mason, slowly filling the gaps, the minute loopholes and cracks, and arranging the troops in the perfect order. This was not going to be an ambush game, but rather one of bunker to bunker fire. It was simply a matter of the king issuing the orders. The orders came late in the game—on the 14th move, after nearly two hours of careful positioning. Tania’s eyes hardened like those of an army general before she issued the firing orders.
But both players had to work hard—whoever wanted to win had to break through layers of carefully placed troops. You could shoot one down, but you could also be shot. It was exactly how the game played out—Tania captured a rook, and Salome reciprocated. In a few moments, lashes of swords were flying around. By the 26th move, Tania had taken out another pawn, both bishops and knight; her opponent had two of her pawns, a bishop and knight too. The match had opened up, there were fewer pieces on the board (though that does not mean an endgame is near), but neither had made a considerable territorial advantage, or rather, whatever thrusts they made were even. Tania had a foot on Salome’s ground and Salome had one on Tania’s too. As if each were mirroring each other’s games.