Gukesh crowned world chess champion: Velammal Vidyalaya gets ready to welcome its most famous student

CHENNAI: The Velammal Vidyalaya at Mogappair in the western suburbs of the city slipped into a celebratory mood on Thursday evening, as D Gukesh, now the most famous name in the school muster, scripted history, becoming the youngest ever chess world champion.

Gukesh outwitted Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to unseat the Chinese from the highest seat in world chess.

It’s the shiniest moment in the long history of the Velammal Institutions, the catalysing force behind the chess revolution in the city.

While Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa remain the brightest prodigies, the school offers expert training to hundreds of budding chess players.

“Chess has always been a part of the city's culture and the decision to make chess a part of the curriculum has really helped it to boom. Of course, they also have a champion like Anand to look up to,” S Velavan, the chess co-coordinator at the Velammal, said.

“Since most of the children coming here have a genuine interest in chess, we don't have to push them. They combine studies and chess well, and, in fact, the students who play chess have done even better in their studies,” Velavan added.

What he refers to here is the '7 to 17 programme' introduced in schools by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2013, coinciding with that year's World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen which was held in the city.

Their dedicated approach has produced matching results too as Velammal Institutions won the World School Chess championship for five successive years and both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa were part of their squad in 2021.

It's not surprising then to see that several Grandmasters have come out of this school since 2005 -- SP Sethuraman, Leon Mendonca, K Priyadharshan, B Adhiban, Vishnu Prasanna, Visakh NR, Vignesh NR, M Karthikeyan, C Aravindh, Karthik Venkataraman, V Pranav, S Bharath, Arjun Kalyan, P Karthikeyan, N Srinath.

Prominent women GMs from the school are Varshini S, daughter of Velavan, Vaishali R, sister of Praggnanandhaa, R Rakshitta, B Savitha Shri.

"What we do here is to ensure that the children play regularly in tournaments so that they don't break away from the sport for a longer duration. It will not be good for their growth (as players) and they need to play at all junior levels like under-11, under-15 or under-17,” Velavan said.

“It keeps them mentally prepared for tougher competitions in their way and they will not be in awe of their opponents or a competitive atmosphere,” he notes.

But, a challenge has arisen for them, that is, more children are trying to enrol into the school to make a career out of chess.

Velavan said the Velammal Institutions are trying to bring in more coaches from outside to cater to the needs of a larger pool of players, and arrange more modern facilities and chess literature available for the aspirants.

Chennai's surge as the chess capital of the country has not one bit amazed the fraternity, and AICF vice-president DP Anantha traces the journey back to the 1970s.

“Along with Bengaluru, Chennai (then Madras) had the most privately owned chess institutions in the country. I still remember how the Tal Chess Club in Chennai used to conduct annual events and some big names like Manuel Aaron used to play in them.

“It was prestigious to win the event because even some local players used to upset fancied players. They have kept that tradition very diligently,” says Anantha.

The Tal club, which was started with the backing of the erstwhile Soviet Union, no longer operates but institutions such as Velammal have ensured that the city will not go through a chess degrowth.

Currently, more than 60 recognised chess academies run in Chennai, including the Chess Gurukul by GM RB Ramesh, who mentors Praggnanandhaa.

“It is a big task to keep the strong tradition (in chess) going. But we are excited to see a lot of new players emerging from our ranks as Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa have started a new wave,” said Velavan.

But for now, an impatient wait begins for everyone at Velammal to welcome world champion Gukesh to the school premises.