What's in a name?
Submitted by
Chessbuff on Sat, 06/30/2007 at 11:46am.
Well, in some cases, a name requires a little stretching and curling until you get it right. Rather, until your tongue gets it right. You don't need to go to Thailand---perennial winners of the longest name contest--to find examples. Let's go to the keystone state, Pennsylvania.
The World Open 07 has commenced, and its website lists the participants plus their photos. Well, that's fine and dandy but try pronouncing some of the names in the tournament. Let's take a look at the women competitors in their respective title groups:
WGMs Dronavalli Harika, Ghate Swathi, Subbaraman Meenakshi, Subbarawan Vijayalakshmi and finally Nisha Mohota.
WIM Tsagaa Battsetseg
WFMs Alisa Melekhina, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Chouchanik Airapetian and finally Tatev Abrahamyam.
Your eyes did less work than your tongue when you went through the list unless you were reading aloud. Okay, who's your favorite and could you spell it please?