The stupendous achievement of Dommaraju Gukesh in winning the World chess championship at the age of 18 has once again put the focus firmly on the nursery of chess talent in India that is Chennai. Indeed what Mumbai is to Indian cricket the southern metropolis is to Indian chess. But whereas Mumbai is no longer the really dominant force that it was in the days when it won the Ranji trophy 15 times in a row or regularly produced half of India’s playing eleven Chennai’s dominance goes back to the days when it was Madras. If anything it is even more established as the chess capital fortified by one single fact if nothing else.
Out of India’s 85 GMs the city has produced 29 including of course India’s first in Viswanathan Anand. It would be the simplest thing to attribute this chess boom to Anand’s various feats including winning the world title five times. There is no doubting his signal contribution to Chennai – and Indian – chess as a uniquely inspiring figure. His becoming India’s first GM at the age of 18 in January 1988 sparked off a chess revolution that has seen India emerge as a chess powerhouse internationally. But as far as his hometown’s supremacy in the game of 64 squares is concerned there are several other factors too that has led to the chess boom. And while one must give Anand his due one cannot also forget the pioneering role played by Manuel Aaron in the early 60s.
In 1961 he became India’s first International Master (IM) and remains one of the key figures in introducing international chess practices to India. Since then there has been a strong chess culture and tradition in Chennai that was Madras. The formation of the Tal chess club at the Russian Cultural Centre in the heart of the city in 1972 did much to foster the burgeoning talent. Several youngsters used to assemble there in the evenings after school, play games, try out various strategies and improve their skills. One of them was Anand and as Aaron recalled some years ago at a felicitation function for the newly crowned world champion the older players were irked by “this slip of a boy who kept on trying new moves.’’
The Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) set up a few years ago intensified the surge in chess interest while also promoting prodigiously gifted players who went on to become GMs including the likes of Gukesh, R Praggnanandha and his sister R Vaishali. Incidentally they are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles and the first pair of siblings to qualify for the Candidates tournament, symbolizing the depth of talent to emerge from Chennai. Vaishali has followed in the footsteps of city-born S Vijayalakshmi who was India’s first Woman Grandmaster (WGM).
Of late there has emerged another institution which by its bold and far sighted approach has created the right culture and ecosystem for chess to thrive and young talent to shine. Velammal Vidyalaya is the latest force to usher in a second revolution. The school offers expert training to hundreds of budding chess players and has done more than just a bit to help produce GMs. The school authorities give them all the study material, but they are not assigned homework or classwork and are given time to prepare and sit for the exams.
“Chess has always been a part of the city’s culture and the decision to make it a part of the curriculum has helped it to boom’’ says S Velavan. chess co-ordinator at Vellammal. Astonishingly out of the 29 GMs 22 owe allegiance to Velammal including Praggnanandha and Gukesh! Parental encouragement is another factor behind the chess boom in the city. Sushila Viswanathan’s role in fostering her son Anand’s talent at a tender age has been well documented.
As far as Gukesh is concerned his father Dr Rajnikanth is an ENT surgeon and mother Padma a microbiologist. Both made sacrifices in their profession in fulfilling their son’s ambitions. Dr Rajnikanth in fact gave up his career to travel with Gukesh to tournaments abroad and get him sponsors. Gukesh has publicly acknowledged more than once the sacrifices made by his parents.
The conduct of the Carlsen – Anand world championship match in the city in 2013 and the successful organization of the Chess Olympiad a couple of years ago have also been important factors in chess enjoying a unique stature in Chennai. Little wonder then that chess players from the state have checkmated and triumphed at several national and international competitions reinforcing Tamil Nadu’s reputation of producing chess geniuses.
(Partab is a senior sports journalist and author based in Chennai.)
