Tamil Nadu IM Norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournaments 

In the series of Tamil Nadu IM Norm Closed Circuit Tournaments, the stage is set to enter the second half of the circuit at Alanakar Grande, Coimbatore. The twenty-five tournaments held results are highly encouraging with the support of the government.

M.Manickam, President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, and the office bearers of Coimbatore District Chess Association addressed the press and media

The prime aim of the series of tournaments is to produce more and more international master norms, which is the stepping stone to becoming international masters and propelling them to become grandmasters later. With a glance at the data presented below, one can understand the success of the series.

Phase 2 of the IM norm tournament series started on 21st July and five tournaments have been completed so far. Among the five, four tournaments have produced IM norms and the 22nd tournament itself has provided two norms.

The five tournaments were organised by Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and the next five are to be sponsored by our president Dr. M. Manickam of Sakthi Group of Industries. All five will be held at Alankar Grande, Coimbatore.

According to the statistics available at the World Chess Federation (FIDE), India has produced about thirty IM norms in the past year and the contribution from the IM norm circuit is thirteen. Including the one which was achieved yesterday at the 25th tournament).

Most of the other eighteen norms apart from our series have been achieved in tournaments outside and only six norms have been achieved in the Indian tournaments. Our series has produced double the entire India

Twelve players from India have been awarded with IM title in the last year and four are the participants from the IM norm tournaments, which indicates the immense contribution to the Indian chess growth.

Many players have increased their international rating, thereby facilitating their norm chances also. Of the thirteen players who have increased their rating by more than seventy-five points, five are from Tamil Nadu.