Mission Chess Sampoorna at Marottichal, India

January 31, 2016 proved to be a memorable day for the people of Marottichal village, 20 km from Thrissur, Kerala. For the last 18 months, all the inhabitants of the village worked on their objective to achieve 100% chess literacy. The dream of the citizens of Marottichal village was realized on January 31 when they Organized Mission Chess Sampoorna. 1000 inhabitants of the village – several complete families included – came together to make it a memorable day in the history of Marottichal. The streets of Marottichal was filled with each of these citizens playing Chess to show their love to this game and to prove 100 % literacy in chess at this hill station which is also famous for its waterfalls.

Top Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi graced the Event as the Chief Guest. The programme was an unprecedented success with Boards being arranged on the streets up to a distance of 1.6 km! Players from the age group of 5 to 80 took part in the Event. The photographs here provide a vivid picture to the reader of the massive involvement of the citizens of Marottichal in the Mission Chess Sampoorna programme. Suresh Gopi walked the 1.6 km stretch greeting all the participants. Politicians cutting across party lines were present at the occasion. Later in the function, Universal Record Forum certified that this was an Asian record and handed over the certificate to Shri. M.P.Vincent M.L.A. The entire chess fraternity in Thrissur and Chess Association of Thrissur also worked with the people of Marottichal to make this event a grand success.

If you Google “Marottichal”, then you will observe that the village is synonymous with Chess. Surprisingly, during times where most Organizers are trying to make Chess a spectator friendly game, we have an entire village – Marottichal - which is very passionate about Chess and is completely united by the game. Possibly, this is the only Village entire in the World where each and every inhabitant plays Chess. Incidentally, the villagers’ passion towards chess was the theme of the famous Malayalam movie, August Club.

Due credit should be given to Unnikrishnan - a tea shop owner – who initiated a movement in Chess during the 1970s at a time when the village was enveloped in alcoholism. Unnikrishnan was studying tenth grade when the Chess World was in the grip of the Fischer – Spassky World Championship match. Most of the Chess aficionados had only one player on their minds during those times and it was Bobby Fischer. Unnikrishnan too was an avid follower of the games of Bobby Fischer. This passion in Chess motivated him to initiate a Chess movement in his village where he started teaching Chess at his house to anyone who was interested in learning the game. Soon, word spread out all over the Village on the passionate Chess Teacher and within a few months, virtually, the entire Village was playing Chess!