Giving colours to the black & white game in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI:The last time world chess champ Magnus Carlsen was in Chennai, he tried his hand at surfing in Kovalam, recalls president of the Surfing Federation of India Arun Vasu. "We're hoping chess players and spectators try their hand at some surfing in Mahabalipuram," says Vasu, adding that with two surfing events coming up - the nationals this week and the festival at Covelong Point this weekend - the waves are calling.
With more than 1,800 players from 180 countries descending on the coastal town for the World Chess Olympiad, local tour guides and operators are hoping it will help revive tourism which has taken a beating since the pandemic struck in 2020.
There's a lot of local flavour on the cards for those planning a sojourn to Mahabalipuram, from workshops with potters and sculptors to village and heritage trails and spicy fish curry.
Potter Masi V, 62, from Poonjeri is waiting eagerly by his wheel. "For 40 years, I have been doing pottery workshops for foreigners. They love watching how we work and learning to use the wheel and kiln," says Masi. He has already started giving out directions to tourists as "just ½ km from chess".
T Baskaran of Creative Sculptors, among the largest stone carving workshops in Tamil Nadu, says he and his craftsmen are ready for walk-ins they hope will come in over the next week. "We conduct annual workshops with global artists but also have tourists coming in to see how sculptors work. If they are willing to stay for the day, then we help them make a small sculpture themselves," he says.
Autorickshaw driver/tour guide R Sakthivel and his wife Juley team up to take tourists on village and heritage trails, rounding it off with a steaming fish curry and rice meal if they so choose. "We also teach them how to make the fish curry with our spices and in a mud pot," he says.
"We have day tours and village rickshaw and cycle safaris on offer, taking them to the homes of potters and farmers, the Tirukalukundram Shiva temple atop a hill, agraharam trail walks, and visits to the local bazaars," says Prince Charles of Travel-XS, a tour operator in Mahabalipuram. "Officials though have told us not to offer anything deep-sea like catamaran rides and diving."
The scuba diving schools though are intent on showing off. Temple Adventures, a scuba diving operator, for instance, decided to celebrate the Olympiad with 'Thambi', the chess mascot, indulging in a game 60 feet underwater.
The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) has a tourism pavilion within the Olympiad enclave which offers travel packages around Chennai and Puducherry as well as to temple towns in the state. "We have trained 50 local tour guides. Also, our hop-on hop-off bus tours from Chennai to Mahabalipuram are seeing several takers," says Sandeep Nanduri, managing director of TTDC.