India, Sept. 25 -- Baskar was faced with a difficult choice. He could afford to back only one of his two chess-playing children. Eventually, he asked his son, Mugesh, to set chess aside and pursue academics, while the family placed its faith, and limited means, behind Savitha Shri.

Over the past week, Savitha Shri has been on a dream run at the Fide Chess Olympiad in Samarkand with seven wins from seven rounds (she was rested in Round 5 when India lost to Poland).

In Round 8 on Thursday, with Kazakhstan leading the match against India and the rest of the three games over, a draw on her board against Elnaz Kaliakhmet was as good as defeat. The 19-year-old international master went for an endgame grind in a position that appeared to be eq...