The barracudas off the coast of Neelankarai were going about their Sunday as usual when they noticed something peculiar: three checkered square boards. And on them stood black-and-white pieces in the shape of pawns, bishops, knights, rooks, kings and queens. Soon, schools of bannerfish, angelfish, jackfish and a solitary turtle joined the barracudas, as they witnessed their first underwater game of chess.
The six players, however, played on unperturbed, periodically rocked by underwater surges. SB Aravind Tharunsri, the organiser of this innovative feat, kept an eye on the proceedings, dressed as Thambi, the mascot for the ongoing 44th Chess Olympiad. The participants are all scuba divers trained by him. “Each game lasted for about 15 minutes,” says Aravind, founder of Temple Adventures diving centres in Neelankarai and Puducherry.
“The idea was to celebrate Chennai being the host city for the Chess Olympiad 2022. This is our way of encouraging all the chess players from India and around the world,” says Aravind. The chess boards and pieces were specially designed so they stay underwater. The chessboards weigh 10 kilograms each and had iron attached to the base. The chess pieces were filled with iron filling to add the needed weight. “My Thambi mask was designed by art director PP Saravanan, keeping the specifications of my face and diving regulator in mind. The mask made of fibre, measures one-and-a-half feet in height and comfortably fits the regulator too,” he explains.
“It took us two hours to set up everything, align the boards, and play the game. We kept coming up to the surface every 20 minutes,” says Aravind, who along with his team took a boat five kilometres out to sea at 6.30 in the morning. They then dove down to a depth of 60 feet. “This is not the best time for diving. The South West monsoon is on and the currents are also strong,” he says.
The visibility over the last few days had not been good but the team was lucky to get eight to 10 metres of visibility on the day of the feat. Aravind is pleased with the result and has many more underwater events planned. Some of the other underwater activities he had earlier organised include a game of cricket, exercises, and cycling.
