CHENNAI: When Japan placed its tanks in the general direction of Burma during World War II, the Aarons knew it was time to go back to Madras Presidency.
When they travelled back to the region of their ancestors in December 1941, there was a kid with them. "It was December 1941, World War 2 was going on. We were bombed out of Burma. It was the Japanese invasion," Manuel, now 86, remembers.
Even as the kid started to settle in the new environment, he was a natural at chess. His grandfather - who had passed away one year after Manuel's birth in 1935 - had played chess with the British. Likewise, his uncle and father were keen students of the game.
However, Manuel's growth story was destined for the stars. It hit a fever pitch and it ultimately led him to become India's first International Master. In an interview with this daily, the Grand Old Man of Indian chess recounts his playing days before coaching the likes of RB Ramesh. Excerpts:
Both my parents used to play. I picked up by watching them. I don't remember anybody teaching me 'knight moves like this, the bishop moves like this'. My grandfather also used to play with the British people. He used to play in Palayamkottai. I never met him. He was one of the elites of that place. My father and uncle also played.
I used to spend so much time on chess that my father used to ask 'why are you wasting your time? Unnaku soar poduma (will this feed you)'? I didn't have an answer. (But) I had to live. Needed the money and take up a job somewhere. I came to Madras in 1955. I started playing it. It was easy because there were lots of tournaments. I played a lot, started winning a lot. That sort of gave me a fillip, I ended up becoming a state champion.
I think it was the west Asian zonal. When I qualified from the zonal, I had to win the Asian-Australian zonal and that match was held in India. I won that match to become an International Master (Aaron had become the first Arjuna Awardee in the field of chess for this achievement).
I didn't think it was a great achievement. Everybody congratulated me, I was happy I had won. But it didn't improve my life in any way. When I won the national championships in Delhi for the first time, I was working as a temporary clerk in Madras, earning Rs 99 including my DA.
I was a rebel, when things were not done according to what should have been done, I was very angry. At that time, I used to play a lot of tournaments. The entry fee was something like rs 7. After you finish the tournament, they would give EPNS (electroplated nickel silver) cup.
Very standard, nothing would be inscribed also. I wanted them to give chess books. They were like 'no no'. EPNS cups they could buy for a discount. For chess books, they might not get a discount. So I had a fight.
Once I needed money, I took a bagful of EPNS cups and went to Moore market (a place in Chennai) to sell them. I was offered 14 annas, that wasn't even a Re 1. That was when I started my crusade. I asked them 'if I gave you EPNS cups as entre fee, would you accept?'
I was always a coach. Always helped people 'do this, do that'. Specifically, I coached the likes of RB Ramesh (captain of India 'B' team in the Open category), sisters Vijayalakshmi and Meenakshi and so on. But (Viswanathan) Anand never came to me. He used to attend weekend classes that I would throw open for free at the Soviet Cultural Centre.
People used to come there after I put announcements in the newspaper. Anand was only 7 or 8 but he would keep asking questions. Some questions I wouldn't know the answers to, I was just translating what Russian theoreticians had observed (after picking up Russian, he used to translate their works before passing that information to his students). But I was never his coach.