Checkmate in Chennai: This park is a haven for chess players

Last week, 1 of the astir breathtaking stories successful the sports pages of the paper was Grandmaster R Vaishali’s triumph astatine the Candidates Tournament successful Pegeia, Cyprus, connected April 15. The Chennai-based chess subordinate became the archetypal Indian pistillate to triumph this prestigious lawsuit which was established successful 1952. With this landmark victory, Vaishali is present acceptable to go lone the 2nd Indian pistillate to vie successful the World Championship — an accomplishment that is nary mean feat.

Would it beryllium a agelong to accidental that the metropolis she is from has played an integral relation successful her life? Not really, considering that of the 83 grandmasters successful India, 29 are from Tamil Nadu. From this subset, it is reported that 15 are from 1 Chennai school, Velammal Vidyalaya successful Mogappair — Vaishali’s alma mater.