The Most Chess-Obsessed Country in the World

The Most Chess-Obsessed Country in the World

This article was originally published in the February edition of Rotary magazine. It’s 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning and the temperature is soaring toward the 90s as hundreds of children make their way toward the iconic Marina Beach in the southern Indian metropolis of Chennai. Yet there’s not a towel or sand pail in sight — only water bottles and chessboards tucked under arms as the kids veer toward a college along the shore. Here, over the nex…