NMchessacademy

Ayya –  The Game Changer:

Ayya and his master stroke in the chess-development:

Ayya though spent much of his life in business, gandhian and philanthropic missions, his contributions to his most favorite sport, chess is indistinguishable too.  During 1987, Dr. N M funded the purchase of 200 Chess Clocks by AICF from Germany for  State Associations.  Besides, he has sponsored many IM/GM Tournaments as well as scores of National Championships through his Group Companies. Long before the Central Government brought in a scheme of cash awards for Indians becoming International Masters (IMs) and Grand Masters (GMs), Ayya had introduced such a scheme first in Tamilnadu and subsequently extended it thorough out India when he became the president to All India Chess federation. Ayya not only got incentives from government but also offered it from his own pockets. He was the first person to offer cash incentive to players achieving the titles of International Masters and Grand Masters and this was definitely the master stroke for the growth of this game over decades.

Ayya and his Sponsoring for the players:

Ayya organized many tournaments single handedly  and in these  efforts  his companies also have had a great role to play in the development of Chess in different ways.  Starting with the Sakthi Sugars Limited International Tournament at Madras in 1981 when T.N.Parameswaran became an International Master, his Companies had sponsored Grand Master Tournament providing Indians with valuable opportunities to gain international titles.Dr.N.Mahalingam gave monthly cash grants to numerous promising but struggling chess players and helped them become great players. To name a few P. Leelaram, Raja Ravi Sekar, S.V.Natarajan, V.Hariharan, S.Vijayalakshmi, Arthie Ramaswamy and also the World Chess Champion Sri Vishwanathan Anand.

Ayya and his compassion and celebration for the chess-players:

Dr.N.M used to celebrate the achievements of chess players every time by arranging felicitation fuctions and honoured them with cash awards / mementoes, which would be followed by High Tea or Dinner.  Ayya’s compassion for chess players in distress was phenomenal and he once readily responded to a request from a Player from Andhra with a cash grant   towards an expensive surgery.   He also  helped  many  players  to secure good jobs. Whenever possible Dr.N.M used to visit the venues of National Championships viz Bhilai, Bikanar, Cochin, Bangalore, Trichy, Kanyakumari, Sivakasi etc, encouraged the players personally and ended the day with a dinner along with them.

Ayya and the birth of a Chess Superstar:

The oldest chess association in India, Coimbatore District Chess Association apart from creating huge stars in the country, also paved way for Vishwanathan Anand to become a Grand Master – the five time World Champion. When Tamil Nadu Chess Association organised the Mariammal Mahalingam ( the Trust started by Dr.N.M on the occasion of his 60th Birthday)  FIDE Rating Chess Tournament at Coimbatore in 1983,  one of the players, who was  sent to this First FIDE rating from that event was none other than Viswanathan Anand.  Four years later when TNCA organised the Sakthi Finance (Dr.N.M’s Group Company) Grand Master Tournament at Coimbatore in December 1987, Anand accomplished his third and final Grand Master norms became a Grand Master India’s Super Star of today.  Ayya has always envisioned Anand to be a shining star of chess and supported him in all his endeavors. They both maintained a mutual-understanding relationship with each other and have been spotted at many of the events together.