Important Events Organised by Virudhunagar DCA
Main Sponsors for our important events
We thank all our sponsors and supporters, keeping the flag of our district flying high. Some names may be missing here, but their contribution to develop chess in our district is not in any way less.
N.P.S.S. Rathina Nadar: Pioneer of Virudhunagar district chess, Sri Rathina Nadar organised the Asian Junior Chess championship single handed in 1979. Every week end, he brought players from Madurai at his own expense to train our youngsters. An ardent lover of chess, Rathina Nadar was never tired to get involved into chess.
Sri. NK Ramasuwamy Raja, Rajapalayam, as the first president of our district made enormous efforts to promote chess in our district. With support from Rajapalayam Mills, he organised two men state championships. His nephew, Mr. P.R. Venketrama Raja is a tower of strength to All India Chess Federation & Tamil Nadu State Chess Associaition. As the president of AICF & former president of TNSCA, he is doing a yeoman service to chess.
Arasan Fireworks, Sivakasi - Mr. G. Ramamoorthy is the man behind most of the tournaments held at Sivakasi in the nineties.
T.P. Textiles, Rajapalayam - Under this banner, Mr. A. Gopalsamy has organised all the tournaments organised by Rajapalayam Chess Club in this millennium. He is interested in taking chess to the villages, encouraging the children of his school to learn the game. He has also conducted many tournaments in his school, situated in a rural area.
Sri Kaliswari Fireworks - Mr. A.P. Selvarajan has been instrumental in Sivakasi Chess Club organising all the three national championships in our district, in addition to coaching camps, state championships, rapid rating tournament etc.
Sri Ramalinga Mills, Aruppukottai - If Aruppukottai has witnessed state championships, it is due the chess lover Sri. T.R. Dhinakaran, Chairman of the mills.
Ma Foi - a new entrant into chess sponsorship. Mr. Pandiarajan, a philanthropist, educationist and currently minister of Tamil Nadu government has promoted chess in the district in the first decade of 2000s.
Mr.R. Vijayann our past secretary is the silent sponsor partner for many tournaments - be it national or state championships. He has set up a high standard in organising tournaments and his approaches are unique and praiseworthy.Jaya Educational Trust - Prof. A. Kanagaraj, hailing from Chatrapatti, near Rajapalayam has not only sponsored tournaments here, but also many national and state championships in Chennai.
Hatsun & Idhayam: Mr. Chandramohan of Hatsun Agro Products (Arun Ice Cream) and Mr. VVR Muthu of Idhayam Group of companies (Idhayam sesame oil) have been instrumental in organising rating tournaments in our district regularly since 2014.
Asian Junior Chess Championships, Sivakasi 1979
| Rank | Name | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wong Meng Kong | SIN | X | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | Krishan Jhunjunwala | HKG | 0.5 | X | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Andronico Yap | PHI | 0 | 0.5 | X | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 |
| 4 | Dibyendu Barua | IND | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | X | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 6.5 |
| 5 | Ronny Gunawan | INA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Stephen Kerr | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | X | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 6 |
| 7 | Mahadevan Ramesh | IND | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | X | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 6 |
| 8 | Niaz Murshed | BAN | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | X | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | D.H.C. Atrupane | SRI | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | X | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 5 |
| 10 | Eric Cheah | MAL | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | X | 0 | 1 | 4.5 |
| 11 | Davoud Pira | IRI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | X | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | Grant Sidnam | NZ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | X | 1.5 |
Participants of Asian Junior Championship, Sivakasi1979
Sitting 1st row : Krishan Jhunjhunwala (Hong Kong), Ronny Gunawann (Indonesia), Grant Sidnam (New Zealand), Stephen Kerr (Australia), Niaz Murshed (Bangaldesh), Andronica Yap (Philippines), Wong Meng Kong (winner, Singapore), D. Barua (India), M, Ramesh (India), Eric Cheah (Malaysia) and Davoud Pira (Iran)
2nd row : IM Manuel Aaron, secretary TNCA, Sri. K.A.A. Snakaralinga Nadar, Sri. P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Rajah, Chairman Ramco Group, Collector of Virudhunagar district,Sri N.P.S.S. Rathina Nadar and Sri. Dhargarh, Treasurer Sivakasi Chess Club
| Sl. No | Year | Place | Category | Winner |
| 1 | 1975 | Rajapalayam | Open | IM Raja Ravishekhar, Chennai |
| 2 | 1978 | Sivakasi | Junior (U19) | Shiva Kumar, Chennai |
| 3 | 1980 | Rajapalayam | Open | Im Manuel Aaron, Indian Bank |
| 4 | 1983 | Sivakasi | Women | Radha Srinivasan, Chennai |
| 5 | 1984 | Sivakasi | Team | Maduria District |
| 6 | 1986 | Sivakasi | Under11/12 | T.K.Swaminathan, Chennai |
| 7 | 1986 | Sivakasi | Sub Junior (U15) | GB Prakash (now IM), Chennai |
| 8 | 1987 | Rajapalayam | Under 11/12 | A.Arun Kumar, Coimbatore |
| 9 | 1987 | Rajapalayam | Sub Junior (U15) | S.Mari Arul, Chennai |
| 10 | 1990 | Sivakasi | Open | G B Prakash (now IM) Indian Bank |
| 11 | 1990 | Sivakasi | Sub Junior (U15) | WFM Safira Shanaz M, Rajapalayam |
| 12 | 1991 | Sivakasi | Open | R. Balasubramanian, (now IM) Chennai |
| 13 | 1991 | Rajapalayam | Sub Junior (U15) | G. Vinod, Chennai and S. Sujatha, Chennai |
| 14 | 1993 | Sivakasi | Junior (U19) | R B Ramesh (now GM), Chennai and B. Devi Kesari, Madurai |
| 15 | 1994 | Sivakasi | Sub Junior (U15) | V.M.S. Lenin and R. Aarthie (now WGM), Chennai |
| 16 | 1995 | Rajapalaym | Women | WFM Safira Shanaz, Rajapalayam |
| 17 | Sivakasi | 1997 | Junior (U19) | R. Karthik, Neyveli and Pl. Sivakami, Madurai |
| 18 | 1999 | Sivakasi | Under 13/14 | IM S. Poobesh Anand (IM), Madurai and C. Delphin, Madurai, |
| 20 | 2001 | Rajapalayam | Team | Indian Bank |
| 21 | 2005 | Rajapalayam | Open | Deepan Chakravarthy, (GM) Madurai |
| 22 | 2005 | Sivakasi | Junior (U19) | Shiva Kumar, Chennai |
| 23 | 2006 | Rajapalayam | Under 18 Rapid | U18 TU Navin Kanna (CHE) (IM) & P. Sivasankari (Kanchi) |
| 24 | 2006 | Rajapalayam | Under 16 Rapid | U16 P. Karthikeyan (GM), Chennai |
| 25 | 2007 | Sivakasi | Rapid | Syed Anwar Shazuli, ICF |
| 26 | 2007 | Rajapalayam | Under 13/14 | RA Pradeep Kumar, Chennai and Pon N Krithika, Kanchi |
| 27 | 2008 | Rajapalayam | Under 13/14 | Vasantharuba Varman, Chennai and J. Vaishnavi, Trichy |
| 28 | 2011 | Rajapalayam | Junior (U19) | Muthu Alagappan (Tiruvallur) and WGM Srija Seshadri (Neyveli) |
| 29 | 2012 | Sivakasi | Team | ICF |
| 30 | 2012 | Sivakasi | Blitz | FM Maheswaran P, Sivakasi |
| 31 | 2013 | Aruppukottai | Junior (U19) | Gireman Ja Coimbaotre & Bala Kannamma P, Chennai |
| 32 | 2017 | Aruppukottai | Under 25 | Bavan Kumar, Chennai & CR Reshma, Kanchi |
| 33 | 2016 | Rajapalaym | Junior (U19) | M Muthaiah AL, CHE & Priyanka K, CBE |
| 34 | 2022 | Kariapatti | Sub Junior (U15) | S Aswath (KKI) & R Tejaswini (CHE) |
| 35 | 2022 | Rajapalayam | Under 12 | P Vignesh Kannan (SIV) KP Theephigaa (CHE) |
| 36 | 2024 | Kariapatti | Under 17 | P Vignesh Kannan (SIV) KP Theephigaa (CHE) |
| TN Technical Conference for Arbiters, Sivakasi 1980 |
| TN Technical Conference for Arbiters, Sivakasi 9, 10 January 1999 |
| All India Technical Conference for Arbiters, Sivakasi 11, 12 January 1999 |
| TN Technical Conference for Arbiters, Aruppukottai 2002 |
| All India Arbiters' Clinic, Sivakasi 11- 12 Feb 2012 |
National Sub junior championship 1996
Magesh Chandran (now GM), winner of the National Sub junior championship 1996. Joint secretaries R. Gurusamy and V. Bala Saravanan are at the left and right extremes.
Second from the right is B. Sridhar, former joint secretary of the district association
N.P.S.S. Rathina Nadar trophy to 1999 National Junior champion
Sri Pollachi N. Mahalingam presents the N.P.S.S. Rathina Nadar trophy to 1999 National Junior champion S.S. Ganguly.
Sri.R. Jegatheesa Sankar, son of Sri. Rathina Nadar and Sri. G. Ramamoorthy are at the left and right
| Sl.No | Year | Name of the Event | Winner |
| 01 | 2010 | Sivakasi FIDE Rated | Linda Rangarajan, Pondicherry |
| 02 | 2011 | Sivakasi Chess Club Blitz Rated (first in India) | IM Nitin S, Salem |
| 03 | 2012 | Sivakasi FIDE Rated Rapid | GM Laxman RR, ICF |
| 04 | 2013 | TP Textiles & SCC Rapid rating, Rajapalayam | Kunal M, Trichy |
| 05 | 2015 | 1st Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, ICF |
| 06 | 2016 | 2nd Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | IM Saravana Krishnan P, Karur Vysya Bank |
| 07 | 2016 | Sivam Hospital Rapid Rating, Sivakasi | IM Shyaamnikhil P, ICF |
| 08 | 2017 | 3rd Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | Kunal M, Madurai |
| 09 | 2018 | 4th Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | GM Laxman RR, ICF |
| 10 | 2018 | Ramco Raring tournament, Rajapalayam | Kunal M, Madurai |
| 11 | 2019 | Ramco Raring tournament, Rajapalayam | IM Harikrishnan ARa, Chennai |
| 12 | 2019 | 5th Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | IM (now GM) Shyaamnikhil P, ICF |
| 13 | 2019 | Rotary Club of Thalavaipuram Rating Tournament, Thalavaipuram | IM R. Balasubramaniam, Chennai |
| 14 | 2019 | Sri Kaliswari College Grand Prix Rapid rating tournament, Sivakasi | WGM Vaishali R, Chennai |
| 15 | 2022 | 6th Sivakasi Chess Sparklers Hatsun Idhayam Rating tournament | Kunal M, Trichy |
| 16 | 2023 | 7th SCS Visalakshi – Arunachalam Rating tournament | L Srihari, Pondicherry |
| 17 | 2023 | Sivakasi Chess Club 50th Year Golden Jubilee Rapid Rating | Ram S Krishnan, BSNL |
| 18 | 2023 | Sivakasi Chess Club 50th Year Golden Jubilee Rating | GM Vishnu Parasanna V, Chennai |
| 19 | 2024 | 8th SCS Visalakshi – Arunachalam Rating tournament | Umashankar A, Pondicherry |
| Sl. No | Year | Coaching Camp Headed By |
| 01 | 2004 | IM Mithrakanth P |
| 02 | 2014 | IA Vijayaraghavan V & IA Ganesh Babu S |
| 03 | 2016 | IM elect Kunal M |
| 04 | 2017 | IM Shyaamnikhil P |
| 05 | FM P Maheswaran | |
| 06 | 2018 | IM elect Kunal M |
| 07 | 2019 | IM elect Kunal M |
| 08 | GM Rodrigo Vasquez, Chile |
| Sl.No | Year | Winner |
| 01 | 2011 | IM Shyaamnikhil P, ICF |
| 02 | 2014 | IA Ganesh Babu S, Madurai |
| Chess Festival with eight events – Chess 960, Blindfold Chess, Fun Chess, Chess Doubles, Chess Quiz, Problem Solving, Gift Chess, Losing Chess - Sivakasi 2009 | ||
| Basque Chess – Sivakasi 2015 IM Shyaamnikhil P, ICF District League 2014 – Paramasivam M, Aruppukottai (must be two separate lines) State Level Tournaments | ||
National Junior Champions 2005
Mr. G. Ramamoorthy, Mr. R. Vijayann, IM Manuel Aaron and Mr. A. Gopalsamy with Deep Sengupta and Soumya Swaminathan, national junior champions 2005
| 2004 | NM Mehta School, Sivakasi |
| 2005 | State level tournament, Srivilliputtur |
| 2009 | State Level tournament, Sivakasi |
| Chess Festival with eight events - Chess 960, Blindfold Chess, Fun Chess, Chess Doubles, Chess Quiz, Problem Solving, Gift Chess, Losing Chess - Sivakasi | |
| 2011 | Jaya Vilas State level tournament, Aruppukottai |
| Sivakasi Chess Club State level tournament | |
| 2012 | Akshaya State level tournament IA S Ganesh Babu |
| Rotary Club of Sivakasi Open SS Manigandan, Madurai | |
| Geojit PNB Paribas State level, Sivakasi Dharmaraj P, Thoothukudi | |
| 2013 | CM state level tournament FM Maheswaran P |
| PSR Engineering College State level tournament, Rajapalayam Ram S Krishnan Chennai | |
| Sri Vidya Engineering State level Team tournament for Schools Adarsh KV Nagercoil | |
| Thillai Masala State level, Virudhunagar – Kunal M & Maheswaran P | |
| 2014 | Rotary Club of Sivakasi Children Vishwa Anand Thoothukudi (under 17) |
| Thillai Masala State level, Virudhunagar Syed Anvar Shazuli | |
| Round Table Rajapalayam @ Sivakasi Kunal M, Trichy | |
| 2015 | Thillai Masala State level, Virudhunagar Syed Anvar Shazuli Y, ICF |
| 2015 Basque Chess – Sivakasi IM Shyaamnikhil P, ICF | |
| TP Textiles State Level, Rajapalayam Maheswaran P, Sivakasi | |
| 2016 | Round Table 158 State level tournament for children |
| Thillai Masala State level, Virudhunagar Subramanaian RM, Madurai | |
| 2017 | TP Textiles State Level Blitz & Doubles – Ram S Krishnan (Blitz) & Viyugam, Chennai |
| Rotary Club of Virudhunagar State level tournament, Virudhunagar - RV Adith, Coimbatore | |
| 2018 | TP Textiles State level tournament – Manigandan SS, Madurai |
| SCS State level – MA Alaguraja Madurai | |
| 2019 | Rotary Club of Virudhunagar State level tournament, Virudhunagar M Vaisnav, Tirupur |
| 2020 | TP Textiles State Level Chess 960 & Doubles Tournaments - 960 – Sa Kannan, Karaikudi |
| Doubles – Modhi Paar 2 – FM Maheswaran P Sivakasi and Syed Anwar Shazuli Chennai | |
| 2023 | In celebration of the 50 year of Sivakasi chess club TN State Level Chess Doubles Tournament – Ground Breaking Strategy - Sham R, Gugan G |