Having some extra time at hand while waiting at my son’s chess tournament in London, I was preparing for my upcoming trip to Chennai. Since my nephew was going to be busy with school, I started searching for some sort of a camp for my 9-year old son. Obviously since I was at a chess tournament, I started searching for chess camps. Google spews out a few links, of which one caught my attention immediately – Chess Gurukul. The training centre is run by Grand Master R.B. Ramesh and his wife Aarthie Ramesh, a woman Grand Master herself – it couldn’t get better than this. Having dug out the location details from the website, I decided to check it out once I reached the city.
When I took my son to the Gurukul in T.Nagar, I was pleasantly surprised to see the two bedroom flat buzzing with students. Chess teachers quizzing the kids on various positions, helping them analyze alternatives and choose the best path. Finally satisfied that I had come to the right place, I approached the local administrator to get some details. Little did I know that the local administrator was a strong FIDE-rated player and is one of the teachers.
In order to assess my son’s level, she asks him to play a game with another 9-year-old boy. With the assessment complete, she agrees to hold 2 hour lessons from the following day. During the week my son was there, another chess camp was going on for a few other kids. Chatting with the other parents waiting there, I came to know 15-year-old grand master (Arvind Chidambaram), the girls’ Under-14 world champion (R. Vaishali) and the boys’ under-10 world champion (R. Praggyananda) attending the workshop. When I met Ramesh, he told me how many of these kids come from ordinary middle-class families and would need some sustained financial support for the next few years in order for them to reach their potential. I promised to do everything I can to build a robust support model for the budding world champions. I am exploring ways to get corporate as well as crowd sponsors for these kids to help them reach their true potential.
Any direct questions specific to Chess Gurukul or about their students, please contact rbramesh1@gmail.com. Ph: 94444 09043.
T.R. Srikanth
