Fresh from organizing the World Olympiad in 2022, the state of Tamil Nadu in India continues its effort to organize more chess events as they aspire to dominate the field of Indian chess – be it the quality and quantity of players, arbiter, organization and administration. With both D. Gukesh who is currently ranked 11th in the world, and youngster R Praggnaanandhaa who has just stepped into the group of top 30 chess players in the world, the journey for both of these Tamil Nadu youngsters have been astonishing and amazing.

While India itself is organizing many grandmaster norm tournaments nowadays, the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association itself – and its president Dr. M. Manickam, aspires to organize at least 50 closed circuit IM norm tournaments in one year. The tournament series is aimed at providing opportunities for potential players from nearby countries to achieve their norms from participating in these round robin events which will be scheduled mostly from Mondays to Saturdays. As per norms requirement, the time control will be 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move with alternate days for double rounds of play.

The first series is likely to commence from the 16^th of October and the first nine tournaments are scheduled as follows (with a gap for Diwali in November):

The organizer is looking at players with FIDE rating above 2150 to compete in these tournaments as it would help to generate the necessary requirements to obtain the IM norms.

The non IMs will be provided with free boarding and lodging (on double sharing basis), local transportation from airport to event venues, and also free entries (for foreign players). Players interested in playing in more tournaments are most welcome.

Those who are keen to participate to have a go for IM norms, are requested to contact MCF secretariat with details, and we will forward these details to the organizer. Please write to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org to register.