Dear Pals,
well, I am a little Kumbakarna/Smaug notorious for my absence from my blog.
not anymore....
hereafter , i will share things on chess, other games, quiz, literature, Indian movies (and a bit of movies abroad) and translated stuff of literature.
feel free to interact.
ever yours
sundararajan ganesan
Pudukkottai
tamil nadu, India
It has arrived at last... the World Chess Championship,
to the lion country Singapura
with millions to follow the match
in real and by online..
Gukesh, the Indian chess sensation challenges
Ding Liren, the Chinese Champion for glory...
chess glory...
they are going to play fourteen games
many openings, endings, sacrifices and a matchful of
surprises are sure to come!
we wish for a glorious, fighting match and
ultimately, an Indian win!
A LOOK AT THE CHESS REVOLUTION IN INDIA, THE BIRTH PLACE OF CHESS/ CHATHURANGA!!!!
Well, Chess (the original name, Chathuranga in Sanskrit) was born in India and was taken by the Arabs to the other parts of the world. Chess was played in India with local rules ... the game was patronized by the Nawabs and other north indian rulers. Sultan Khan was the first world beater to emerge fromIndia ( he was patronized by Nawab Sir.Omer Hayat Khan ) Sultan Khan went to England and won against many great players including the former world champ, Capablanca .. later he had to come back and settled in pakistan.
the first Indian national chess ch., held in the 1950s and was won by R.B.Sapre (of Maharashtra) and by Darba Venkayyah (of the then Madras Province). Later, Venkayyah stopped playing chess but Sapre continued to play and lead a chess life in total, as a coach, organizer and writer.
Manuel Aaron of Tamil Nadu has won the National championship for a record nine times .. he was the first IM of India .. he has played against the legendary Bobby Fisher in the Stolkhom Interzonal and has won against Max Euwe, Portisch, Uhlmann etc., V.Ravikumar from Madras (now Chennai) won the Asian Juniorin 1978 and became the IInd IM of India. Later, Ravisekar, Parameswaran (both fromTN), Pravin Thipsay (Maharashtra), Barua (Bengal)became IMs.
Vishy Anand emerged as a wonderkid who played electrifying chess in the eighties ... he won the national championshp in 1986 and 87. Became World Junior champion in 1988 and became a GM after achieving norms in the Bhilwara GM Tmt., at New Delhim and Sakthi Sugars GM Tmt.,at Coimbatore. he continued (continues to this day!!) sensational performance led him to qualify in the candidate tournament at Manila ; he beat Alexi Dreev in a match at Chennai ; later, lost a narrowly fought match against Karpov . in the next cycle, he qualified to meet Karpov in the final ... he narrowly lost the match. In the Professional Chess Association-organized World Chess Ch., he lost to Kasparov in the final, played in the New York city.
in 2000, finally, he beat Alexi Shirov and won the WCC title. Later he remained WCC four more times by winning a strong tournament, by beating Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand. Finally he lost to Magnus Carlsen. In the next candidates, he qualified again, played Carlsen and lost again.Anand has written quite a few chess books on openings, on his games ; he gives commentaries during great tournaments ; he is the present Vice President of FIDE.He was the first receipient of Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna award ; has won the chess oscar, many times and has been awarded with Padma Vibushan award by the Govt. of India.
He keeps mentoring the great, young Indian Grandmasters like Gukesh, Praggnanandha and others.
In the Past, Bhilwara Textiles, Sakthi Sugars/group (even now!) used to organize annual GM Tournaments. the annual Guruswamy naidu chess tournament at the famous Murugan pilgrimae centre of Palani,Tamil nadu (not conducted now) was a major, colourful tournament....Alekhine chess club, Kolkatta has organized regular GM tmts.,
Now Parswanath GM tmt., at Delhi has emerged an important tmt., in the annual Indian Chess Calendar. the Chennai Open GM Tmt., is yet another important tmt., in the Internatl., chess circuit. Now for the past few years, THE ATHENS OF THE EAST GM TMT., in the historic pilgrimage town of Madurai, Tamil Nadu is fast becoming popular.
now India has close to hundred GMs and countless IMs and plenty of tournaments at various levels and durations.Even Corporates have their own chess tmts.,
Gukesh, Praggnandha, Vaishali, Pranav, are some of the latest chess sensations to emerge from tamil nadu. Gukesh is playing for the World Championship against Ding Liren of China in Singapore from today onwars, a matter of great pride for Tamil nadu/India...
also, recently, India has won both Men's and Women's chess olympiad held at Budapest, Hungary
of which I have written a poem in a separate blog.
thanks to chess software like Chessbase, Sagar Shah's ChessbaseIndia which promotes chess in myriad ways, Indian chess is on the surge....
In the past, Russia /Soviet Union dominated chess. Now the world witnesses an Indian chess invasion at all corners of the world.
THE CONQUEST OF BUDAPEST - S.GANESAN( Secretary of Pudukkottai District Chess Association)
It was a long, long quest
by the nation which invented chess,
to get a gold at Olympiad.
True, silver and bronze,
gifted Individuals like Rafiq and Viji
got in the past,
but never the team gold
till the Budapest Olympiad.
Well, the Olympiad held at Hungary,
the land of Magyars and the mighty Polgars,
Lo, arrived the young Indian masters, men and women
Carrying the legacy of the Tiger of Madras
and the hopes of millions of Indians and fans elsewhere,
Fully charged, determined for deeds greater,
The vyuha of the men’s team crafted carefully
by Srinath, the coach.
Fiery Gukesh was fielded in the top board
Arjun played aggressive chess and
Pragg played solid and attacked the foe,
as the battle-board demanded
The team’s fortunes, strengthened further
By the heroics of Vidit and Hari
The champion chess colts’ majestic march
boasted wins against rivals, arch
Hungary, America, Slovenia
Chess Continents crumbled at the
Concentrated attacks of the young Indian warriors
Who tamed all and emerged victorious
The young Indian women’s team of Kunte,
Matched the talent and deeds of the Indian men
Harika Dronavalli at top board, drawing and winning,
Assuring a solid support, with hopes dawning
Divya Deshmukh, the darling of the Olympiad
And the fearless tigress of the team,
Attacked all-out in her games,
Going for the kill and scoring points at will.
Vantika and Vaishali defended well,
At times, the inferior positions in their tables,
Only to turn the tables, at the right time,
With their counter attacks and crafty play.
Tania Sachdev rendered solid support
By her steady play and steely nerves.
Came final round, the young Indian women
Taught the Azerbaijanis, a lesson or two over the board
Picked up the lion’s share of points in their hoard
And in the process, won the Olympiad gold!
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