Chennai’s secret: How the Indian city mints world-beating chess champions

As Gukesh Dommaraju aims to win the world championships starting Monday, a city of chess stars cheers him on.

Chennai, India — Giant banners of a smiling teen beamed down on hundreds of students gathered at the school campus of Velammal Nexus to receive the young champion.

It was August 10, 2024, and the school was ready to put on a show unlike any it had witnessed before: 220 drones projected the teenage hero’s face into the sky as students held placards wishing him luck.

In a country that reserves this kind of adulation for movie actors and cricketers, a new and unlikely star had been born – in chess. Clad in his checked school uniform, 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju finally walked up to the stage to receive a gift from his school – a luxurious E-Class Mercedes Benz that he did not have a licence to drive yet.

The event was held to honour the young grandmaster’s many accomplishments, including becoming the youngest ever to win the Candidates Tournament – an event that saw 16 top-rated chess players battle it out to determine who would take on the reigning world champions.

Gukesh, a poker-faced, lanky teen, belongs to the latest crop of chess wizards that the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has churned out in the last decade. The state is home to 31 grandmasters out of 85 in all of India and even proudly boasts of a temple for the sport in the Tiruvarur district.