Tamil Nadu can be called the Mecca of Indian Chess. From producing India’s first International Master (Manuel Aaron, 1961) and India’s first Grandmaster (Viswanathan Anand, 1988), the State has the maximum number of GMs (10 out of 24 in the country), including the latest one - SP Sethuraman. If Aaron dominated the 60s and early 70s, Raja Ravisekhar, TN Parameswaran and R Ravikumar kept the TN flag flying before the advent of Anand. After Anand’s meteoric rise, the floodgates opened, with the State producing another nine GMs in the span of 22 years.
Tal Club the hub for chess players
For the chess players in the 80s before the breakaway of Soviet Union, Tal Chess Club in the city was the most sought after place. The club also had a good chess library, including the Russian books.The club named after the most popular world champion (Mikhail Tal) saw the rise of Anand. Blitz (5-minute chess) used to be the most popular format in the club. The rule in the club for blitz was whoever wins can keep playing and the one who loses should give a chance to the next player. On one such occasion after Anand become a strong player, he kept on winning and went back home undefeated!
Another reason for TN being a force in chess was the number of tournaments in and around the state in the 80s and 90s. Most of the cities like Madurai, Trichy and smaller places like Sivakasi, Mettupalayam and Tirupur conducted tournaments. The most popular and strongest open tournament took place in Palani (Guruswamy Naidu Memorial) and attracted more than 600 players from all over India. Most of the tournaments in TN, including the Palani event were stopped because of lack of sponsors. It was a bit of blow but it was compensated by the bigger tournaments happening in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, thanks to the rise of Indian chess.
If Anand benefited from Tal Club, India’s No 2 player Krishnan Sasikiran polished his skills by competing in the weekend tournaments in Corporation stadium. Sasi has been India’s second best player for a long time and has won strong open tournaments in Europe. He played a part in India’s bronze-medal showing in the recently concluded Asian Games. Another player from Chennai, RB Ramesh also caught the eye first in the weekend tournaments. He later went on to win the British Championship and became a GM. Ramesh, who is no longer an active player, has now become a coach, and runs a chess academy in T Nagar.
The current generation of players like B Adhiban and SP Sethuraman have benefited from the age-group tournaments and wealth of information, thanks to the internet.
List of GMs in TN: V Anand, K Sasikiran, B Adhiban, SP Sethuraman, Arun Prasad, Sundararajan Kidambi, RB Ramesh, P Magesh Chandran, RR Laxman, Deepan Chakravarthy.
10 titles for Joshna
For long Bhuvaneshwari Kumari’s record of 16 national women’s titles in squash looked an impossible one to break. It’s still a difficult one to rewrite. By winning the national women’s title for the 10th time in Mumbai, Joshna Chinappa has given herself a shot at the record even though it looks far-fetched at the moment. By winning eight straight national titles and making progress on the WISPA ciruit, Joshna looks set for more laurels in the future.