India is very proud in hosting this 44th chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. 213 teams including Ukraine have registered for this event. India’s first international Master was Manuel Aaron and more than 50% of world’s best Under 18 players from India.
The people who made this possible are many and out of this few needs to be mentioned 1) Mr. Stalin Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu 2) Srinath Narayanan, 3) Mr. Chauhan and 4) Mr. Sanjay Kapoor, President of AICF 5) Mr. Viswanathan Anand and of course our PM Mr. Modi Ji.
All the chess participants are like Arjuna’s who were doing great tapas in practicing the chess skills for so long years. This is similar to Arujna doing a penance for many years to get the boon or reward from Lord Shiva. These players are like Arjuna’s practicing so long to get the boon as the success in this competition. So this place must inspire them on how to do this penance and get the desired results, in the form of rewards.
The venue is as now selected as Four Point Sheraton Hotel, and the government is doing all its efforts to make this a successful event. More than 2000 rooms have been booked and out of which 1200 are sea-facing rooms. The TN government is in full swing in making the event a grand place for this mega event and wants to highlight to this world the importance of Mahabalipuram and it sculptures.
The first International Master from Asia was Mr. Rodolfo Tan Cardoso of Philippines in 1957 and the present world champion is Mr. Magnus Carlson (2864), our country has also produced a steady line of Grand Masters. From here onwards there is possibility of more people taking this sport as their passion. To become a Grand master a player must reach FIDE rating of 2500 and earn three grand master norms in international competition.
Players can learn from Arjuna’s penance on how to become a GM, they have to observe the Arjuna’s sculpture very closely and notice the things which made his mission a success. The following points can be noted down for anybody in this world to achieve their goal.
- Arjuna is standing on one leg, this means single minded focus is needed to achieve any goal in life.
- His hands are raised, means ultimate respect to the goal needs to be given.
- He has not eaten well, physical comforts needs to to given up, good food, sleep etc..
- His face is not clean shaven etc.. meaning not worried about the self or what others will think or speak about you.
So this Chess competition will help a lot of players and others in different fields about life and happiness.