CHENNAI: While Chess Olympiad fever continues to grip Chennai, it reached a whole new dimension recently. This time, the game was taken 60-feet underwater. Just a few km away from the competition in Mamallapuram, a team of six scuba divers including an eight-year-old girl battled it out on the checkered board. Videos and photos of the spectacle went viral on social media.
While the mascot ‘Thambi’ is an unmistakable sight in the State, SB Aravind Tharunsri, a scuba diving instructor from Chennai, made sure the knight wouldn’t be missed under the sea as well. The head of the team donned a ‘Thambi’ costume carefully crafted to life size by art director Saravanan.
According to the instructor, “We had planned to conduct the underwater stunt during the inauguration on 28 August. But unfortunately, it was a full moon day and tides were rough. On Sunday, six of us and three others left from Neelankarai on a rented boat and jumped underwater.” Aravind’s daughter Thaaragai Aarathana (8) was one of the divers who played chess underwater.
The stunt aimed to display how proud the people of TN are of chess, Aravind added. In order to raise awareness, no plastic was used and no waste was left behind after the stunt. Director Vigensh Sivan reached out to Aravind, congratulating him for the effort, and promised to publish the videos during the finale. Behind the scenes are hours of painstaking work. From buying a customised mascot, renting a boat, readying the crew to planning the stunt all of which had cost Rs 30,000. In the video, the players are seen using hand signals to concede the game or offer a draw. At the end, all the chess players can be seen posing aboard the boat.
Aravind, who runs the scuba diving firm ‘Temple Adventures’ performed several stunts for important events. From Independence day to environmental day, the team has performed over 30 stunts since 2007.