Even before Ivana Furtado was born in 1999, S. Vijayalakshmi had won two of her six National women titles.
With 20 years separating the two aspirants in the 41st National chess championship here, the veteran was an odds-on favourite to prove her superiority over the Goan teenager in their second round clash on Sunday.
But Ivana, a two-time World (under-8) girls’ champion, held her ground for 70 moves and eventually proved equal to 35-year-old Vijayalakshmi in this battle of generations while four out of the remaining five boards produced decisive verdicts.
Before Ivana, 15, played accurately in a tricky rook-pawn endgame, Lakshmi Praneetha defeated Hinduja Reddy to take the lead with two points. The battle between two of the lowest-rated players in the fray ended in 30 moves with Lakshmi set to emerge with an extra rook. In fact, Lakshmi remained the only leader after Bhakti Kulkarni tried for 114 moves to beat Nimmy George before settling for a draw in the day's last game to finish.
The round also saw contenders like title-holder Mary Ann Gomes, National Challenger champion Nisha Mohota and second seed Padmini Rout post victories. Among these, Nisha made it easily when fellow former champion Swati Ghate got her queen trapped and resigned.
The results: Second round: Lakshmi Praneetha (2) bt Hinduja Reddy (0); Nimmy George (0.5) drew with Bhakti Kulkarni (1.5); Ivana Furtado (1) drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (1.5); Pratyusha Bodda (0.5) lost to Padmini Rout (1.5); Nisha Mohota (1.5) bt Swati Ghate (0.5); V. Varshini (0) lost to Mary Ann Gomes (1.5).
