Moscow’s loss is Mandya’s gain. When the 44th FIDE International Chess Olympiad was shifted from Russia to India because of geo-political reasons, one of the myriad ripple effects was a dream-come-true opportunity for Nandhipati Madhuri, a chess player who teaches the sport to blind players on specially made chess boards in the district of Mandya, Karnataka.
She brushes aside conversations about meeting the best chess players of the world. What gets her excited is something else entirely, “I can learn so many things here, about how to conduct a tournament, what to do, what not to do. That is my plan, to understand how the Government goes about putting together something like this. I want it to happen again; I want the players to want to return to India, purely for what we have to offer,” says Madhuri, who has already chosen students among the academy in Mandya, who have potential to be trained for the Chess Paralympics. “There is so much talent here, Indian chess has improved a lot,” she seems almost fiercely, eager to flaunt her country.
As a volunteer team leader, Madhuri is a part of a veritable army of 400 chess players and coaches that has landed in Mamallapuram from across the country as volunteers to host international-level chess players at the Olympiad.
