Perhaps, it was her job in the Indian Airlines that landed Viji in the best of her form. Since joining IA, Viji has won both the National Women A titles and looks set for completing the Women's Grandmaster title as well.

``In fact, I missed the third and final WGM norm on several occasions. At Ubeda and at Goodricke this year; Iran and Goodricke last year. I have lost count of these chances,'' said Viji, who had won two WGM norms by March 1998 and since then, started missing the third.

Viji agreed there wasno point in chasing the WGM norms anymore and said she was trying to earn IM norms now. ``For this, I am thinking of participating in many open tournaments. I will be going to Biel, London (British championship) and Vietnam (Asian junior) this year,'' said the newly-crowned champion who had triumphed at Chennai in 1995 by 1.5 points and at Mumbai 1998 by half a point.

For the IM norm, probably the best platform is the men's National A. ``I played in the National B at Surat last year and finished 15th, missing again by the narrowest of margins in tie-break,'' lamented Viji. She had also lost the WGM norm chances narrowly in the Asian Juniors in Jaipur (1997) and Iran (1998).

Viji admitted many things had changed in women's National A since 1995. ``When I first won the event, there was no chance to pick up IWM norms as there were four or five unrated players in the field. Even in strength, nowadays all these players are good in opening because of the computer training.''

Viji was hot happy with the startshe had here. And she was happy about her crucial victory over Bhagyashree Thipsay, which she rates as her best game in the championship.