Where Gods Play Chess
A god who plays chess? Yes, there is one. Where else, besides Tamil Nadu, the country’s chess capital, can this be? Lord Shiva, the presiding deity at Chaturanga Vallabha Nathar temple in Tiruvarur district, is believed to be a cosmic master of chaturanga or chess. According to the legend, King Vasudeva had proclaimed that anyone who would defeat his beautiful daughter Rajarajeswari, a chess prodigy, in the game would be given her hand in marriage. Several suitors from far and wide tried in vain as the princess remained undefeated. The desperate king prayed fervently to Lord Shiva for a worthy match for his daughter. One day, an old, frail mendicant arrived at the palace and challenged the princess. Astonishing all around, the mendicant defeated the princess. King had no way but to keep his word, and the elderly challenger married the young princess. The couple later revealed themselves as none other than Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
The myth underscores how deeply chess is ingrained in Tamil culture. No wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi referenced the story while inaugurating the 44th International Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in August 2022. The city hosted the biennial event organised by the International Federation of Chess (FIDE) after the venue was shifted from Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Symbolically, it also marked the gradual shifting of the world’s chess capital from Moscow to Chennai.
The tectonic shift is now accelerated with Chennai’s 18-year-old sensation, Dommaraju Gukesh, who created history last week by emerging as the youngest world champion! Last year, another 18-year-old from Chennai, R Praggnanandhaa, became the youngest player to reach the World Championship final.
Chennai and chess share more than just the first three letters of their names. Since the turn of the 21st century, a teen generation of Indian chess players has established their legitimate hegemony over a game created by their ancestors 1500 years ago. And most of these wunderkind belong to not just one state- Tamil Nadu, but to one city! If Vishwanathan Anand was India’s only Grandmaster (GM) in 1987, the country boasts 85 now, ranked fourth after Russia (364), Germany (118), Ukraine (108) and the USA (89). However, most remarkably, of the 85 Indian GMs, 30 are from Tamil Nadu.
Among three Indian women GMs, Vaishali Rameshbabu belongs to Tamil Nadu. GM is the highest title awarded by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), followed by International Master (IM) and FIDE Master (FM). Among the 2000 GMs from all over the world, 42 are women. The list has three from Kerala- G N Gopal (2007), SL Narayanan (2015) and Nihal Sarin (2019). Sarin (7) and Narayanan (10) are among the top-ranked ten players from India.
Of the five top-ranked Indians called “Super GMs” with over 2700 Elopoints, three belong to Tamil Nadu, which is headed by the 21-year-old Arjun Erigaisi (2801) from Telangana. Others in the Super Five are Gukesh (2783), V Anand (2757), Pragganandhaa (2737) and Maharashtra's Vidit Gujarati (2726). Tamil Nadu also has the world's only family, which boasts two GMs --Praggananandhaa and Vaishali. (Even more stunningly, 15 of the 30 GMs from Tamil Nadu are from the same school -- Valammal Vidyalaya, about which later).
Chennai was India's chess hub even before the country's young generation of Indian chess masters began their recent surge to establish supremacy over the game their ancestors invented. However, the city’s rise as a powerhouse of modern chess started with a Burmese-born master who migrated here as a young man. He is the legendary Manuel Aaron, a nine-time national champion. Now 89, Aaron grew up in Chennai, becoming India’s first International Master (IM) in 1961, who was also the first from the country to beat international rivals.
The former Soviet Union was the Chess superpower then. Passionate about the game, Aaron joined Chennai's House of Soviet Culture to learn the Russian language and read Soviet publications on chess. Later, with the Soviet centre’s support, Aaron founded the city‘s first major chess school -- Tal Chess Club -- in 1972 at its premises and named it after his favourite Soviet chess master, Mikhail Tal. It was the first academy to introduce international chess practices to the city. The game acquired a global sporting and political interest in 1972 when Bobby Fischer became the first American to win the World Championship, defeating reigning Soviet champion, Boris Spassky. Dubbed the “Match of the Century” and held in Reykjavik, Iceland, at the height of the Cold War, the West celebrated Fisher’s win as an American victory, marking the end of Soviet hegemony in chess.
The new interest in the game spread to India, too, and Tal Club soon began to draw many parents eager to coach their kids under Aaron. Among those bright kids was a five-year-old named Viswanathan Anand. In 1987, Anand, 17, mentored by Aaron, became India's first GM. "Vishy" became India’s greatest chess wizard to win the world championship five times and became known as the "Madras Tiger". In 2001, Chennai earned another laurel when Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi emerged as India's first Woman Grand Master. India's second IM was also from Tamil Nadu -- V. Ravikumar, who won the title 17 years after Aaron.
However, the “Children’s Chess Revolution” in Chennai began at the dawn of the present century. While it took 12 years for the next GM -- P Sasikiran (2000) to emerge from Tamil Nadu after Anand, the state has been producing them every year! The numbers leapt in specific years like 2015, 2019, and 2023, making three GMs each! Another phenomenon was the dramatic fall in the age of GMs. The Indian record in this regard is held by Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh, who won the GM title at 13 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. (Kerala's Nikhil Sarin was the third youngest to become GM at 14). Almost one-third of the total 30 GMs from the state acquired the title in their teens. However, youngsters who have crossed their teens also keep winning the title, like P. Shyaam Nikhil from Tamil Nadu, who became India's latest (85th) GM at 24 this year.
So why does Tamil Nadu or Chennai, in particular, produce so many chess prodigies apart from the cultural, sociological and historical factors? The vibrancy of the state and district chess associations (Chennai was the centre of the Indian Chess Federation for some time), availability of infrastructure and hosting of international competitions (the world championship between Anand and Magnus Carlsen in 2013 and the Chess Olympiad in 2022), the multitude of chess clubs and top-class training centres headed by GMs like Anand (Westbridge), Vishnu Prasanna or R. Ramesh who also make available the services of international coaches to young masters, the city’s high tech facilities and connectivity at a time when high-quality chess coaching is through online and also state government policies to encourage the game from school level hold the key to the conducive ecosystem.
Chess was included in school as an extracurricular activity in 2011 by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Two years later, another project -Seven to Seventeen- was launched to coach all students aged 7 to 17. Hours after Gukesh won the world championship, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced a cash award of Rs 5 crore to him, almost half what he earned from winning the title!
Last but not least is the tremendous support private schools like the Velammal Educational Trust provide to budding chess wizards! The Velammal Vidyalaya has now hogged world attention as the world champion Gukesh’s school. The school, known as Chennai’s Chess Factory, is the alma mater of 15 GMs, including Praggnanandha and his sister Vaishnavi! Velammal group holds special and free classes for chess prodigies who get concessions on class attendance, provides financial support to buy gadgets, sponsorships to attend competitions abroad, etc, besides organising tournaments.
Gukesh, Pragg, and their parents never forget to thank their school. At his parents ' request, the school bought Gukesh a supercomputer worth Rs 17 lakhs to prepare for the Candidates' tournament in the run-up to the world championship. Many budding chess prodigies from other states have also been moving to Chennai to enrol in Velammal, such as Leon Menonca from Goa, who is now a GM.
Launched modestly in 1986 by M V Muthuramalingam with less than 200 students, Velammal Educational Trust now has 56 institutions across the state, including medical and engineering colleges. Muthuramalingam has a humble background as he was raised single-handedly by his mother, Velammal, a poor widow who worked as a domestic helper. After securing a diploma in engineering, Muthuramalingam worked in the construction business and gradually built up his diverse businesses. The school’s active support for chess owes to Muthuramalingam’s son, MVM Velmohan, a sports enthusiast and a vice president of the Tamil Nadu Chess Association. The school’s chess wizards have led it to win many world schools chess tournaments.