Chennai's chess champions

Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest ever world chess champion, deepening the "love affair between Indians and chess", said The Hindu.

Chess has been "around for millennia" and is "generally believed to have originated in India". Now, the city of Chennai is producing a host of national champions, including 18-year-old Dommaraju.

Wizards and geniuses

The "poker-faced, lanky teen" is part of "the latest crop" of chess "wizards" that the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has "churned out" over the last 10 years, said Al Jazeera. The state has produced 31 grandmasters out of 85 in all of India and even has a temple for the sport in the Tiruvarur district.

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But the "glory that has embraced Indian chess in recent years is rooted in humble beginnings, defined by sacrifice and dedication" at the city's schools and academies where "dreams are forged" and then "shaped for success".

The Velammal Nexus school in Chennai, where many of the game's "young trailblazers" have attended, has an exclusive chess academy, where 56-year-old Velavan Subbiah is building a "pipeline of chess geniuses".

Children as young as three are forming a new generation that has "helped spread" the game's popularity "even to remote villages". The academy's boys and girls are now enjoying celebrity status. They "get recognised and mobbed in every corner of the state".

Going stratospheric 

The broader culture of Chennai is helping to bolster this trend. It's a "socially conservative" city, said Al Jazeera, and many of the city's parents regard chess as a "brainy" hobby that helps their children focus on their studies.

The policies of the state government have also supported chess. There are cash prizes for winners and international chess events have been held in Tamil Nadu.

Wider geopolitical events have played their part. The 2022 Chess Olympiad was supposed to be held in Russia, but it was moved from Khanty-Mansiysk and awarded to Chennai following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The success of the tournament helped India’s chess profile go "stratospheric", said The Hindu.

Historic and exemplary

Dommaraju is only the second Indian chess player to become world champion, following Viswanathan Anand, India's first grandmaster, who won the last of his five world titles in 2012.

"It's a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India," said Dommaraju. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the victory was "historic and exemplary!" Writing on X, Modi said the "remarkable accomplishment" was "the result of his unparalleled talent, hard work and unwavering determination".

There could be more Dommarajus to come because India's "journey as a chess giant is only now taking off", said Al Jazeera.