READING COMPREHENSION PASSAGE (CLASS 11 AND 12)

 SOLVED WORKSHEET 14

Chess and the city: How Chennai became India’s ‘Soviet Union in miniature’

 Extract from Scroll.in

1.    In July 2019, Prithu Gupta became India’s 64th chess grandmaster. It was a symbolic moment for Indian chess, they finally had one grandmaster for each square on the chess board.

2. But a closer look at those numbers reveals how one state has played a pivotal role in India’s chess story. Of the 64 GMs, West Bengal has produced 8, Maharashtra 7, New Delhi 6, Andhra Pradesh 4, Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka 3 each. But a whopping 23 GMs have come from Tamil Nadu The country’s first International Master, Manuel Aaron, grew up in Tamil Nadu. The first grandmaster (Viswanathan Anand), the first female grandmaster (Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi), and the first International Arbiter are all from Chennai.

3. But what gave rise to Chennai and Tamil Nadu’s incredible chess culture? How did one state get such a jump over the others? And what does the future hold? A combination of Fischer and the Soviets On the face of it, Bobby Fischer and the Russians were adversaries. The Cold War was at its height and a young 29-year-old American genius was challenging the domination of the Soviet Union. Boris Spassky and Fischer were superb players but it was a storyline that caught the attention of the world. Chess, when Fischer won the title in 1972, went mainstream like never before.

4. “Since 1948, you know, chess title was firmly in the hands of Soviet players. This event was treated by people on both sides of the Atlantic as a crushing moment in the midst of the Cold War. Big intellectual victory for the United States, and you know, a hugely painful, almost insulting defeat for the Soviet Union, because Bobby Fischer was a great player but he was like a lonely warrior. And Fischer’s triumph had a huge impact on the sport.

5. Manuel Aaron, who had become India’s first IM in 1961, remembers that Fischer’s victory had a huge impact in Chennai too. I started the Tal Chess club in the Soviet Cultural Centre in 1972,” Aaron told Scroll.in. “And I even studied Russian, I have a diploma, to be able to read the books. They saw that I was the national champion and that I was studying the language, so they asked me if I could start the chess club there. At that time, one has to remember they were the Soviet Union and they wanted to propagate their views everywhere and they looked at Chennai and me as a possibility for their propaganda.” “And they gave us a lot of things. Chess books, chess sets, chess clocks… everything they used to import from the USSR for free. And they built a place for the club too. And we charged only 20 rupees per month as membership. Ironically, chess was at its peak in popularity in Chennai because of Fischer’s win over Spassky.”

6. In a way, Fischer and the Soviet Union worked together to give rise to a club that played a pioneering role in Indian chess. Before that, there were no clubs in Chennai. Players would formally gather at someone’s house to play. In Mylapore, they used to have this place called Solar chess club but it was more a hobby club. There were no chairs, there was no membership fee, they would just sit in the veranda and play

7. One of those ‘better’ players was a youngster named Viswanathan Anand, who was introduced to the game by his mother in 1975 at the age of six. One of the innovative things that Aaron used to do at the Tal club was giving lectures about chess theory. It wasn’t as much a lecture as a retelling. This is where his diploma in the Russian language came in handy. The Cultural Centre would give him access to Soviet chess magazines, he would read them and pass on the knowledge to all those present. Anand would attend almost every lecture. In 1983, a 13-years-old Anand beat Aaron. It was a passing of the baton in more ways than one.

 
8. The second generation.

Every generation needs a hero. For Krishnan Sasikiran, Aarthie Ramaswamy and RB Ramesh, Anand was that hero. Among the thousands who took up the sport after his success, these three rose to the top very quickly. There is no one thing that one can accurately describe the phenomenon that is Chennai chess but we are a long way from the end game for now. The next generation might face a very different challenge but they’ll always know they have somebody to fall back on. And perhaps that might be Chennai and Tamil Nadu’s greatest strength.


1. What is the status of chess in Chennai?

Out of 64 Grand master from India a whopping 23 GMs have come from Tamil Nadu. The country’s first International Master, Manuel Aaron, grew up in Tamil Nadu. The first grandmaster (Viswanathan Anand), the first female grandmaster (Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi), and the first International Arbiter are all from Chennai.


2. What gave rise to Chennai and Tamil Nadu’s incredible chess culture?

A combination of Fischer and the Soviets On the face of it, Bobby Fischer and the Russians were adversaries. Since 1948, chess title was firmly in the hands of Soviet players. Boris Spassky of Soviet Russia and Fischer of USA were superb players but it was a storyline that caught the attention of the world Chess, when Fischer won the title in 1972. Fischer’s triumph had a huge impact on the sport. Manuel Aron started the Tal chess club in Chennai with the help and aid from soviet Russia and he gave training to young children in Chennai who were members of Tal Chess club.


3. Mention the grandmasters who were a part of the Tal Chess Club.

One of those ‘better’ players was a youngster named Viswanathan Anand, who was introduced to the game by his mother in 1975 at the age of six. In 1983, a 13-years-old Anand beat Aaron. It was a passing of the baton in more ways than one. Krishnan Sasikiran, Aarthie Ramaswamy and RB Ramesh were other heroes.