The 44th Chess Olympiad is starting today at Mahabalipuram. It is the first time that the Olympiad is being held in India, even though the game of 64 squares traces to its origin to Chaturangam from ancient India.
During my younger days, there were no Grandmasters from India. We had one International Master, Mr Manuel Aaron from Madras. Today, India can boast of nearly 75 Grandmasters, many of them from Madras, including the child prodigy Praggyananda and of course, Viswanathan Anand.
I am glad that the State government is taking steps to promote the game and the tournament. The Thambi mascot is well received. So also the painted structures like the Napier Bridge. The mascot is in pure white veshti. Maybe he should have been in a coloured and chequered lungi (folded at half-mast) to be more Tamilian. Just saying.
Madras Nalla Madras. A photo blog on Madras, that is Chennai 