Awarded the International Master title in 1961 after winning the Asian-Australian Zonal, he was the first titled Indian player in modern times; they didn't have official titles in Sultan Khan's day.
Aaron is from a family of chess players and was introduced to the game by his grandfather and his son Aravind is a National Champion, chess journalist and trainer.
In his day the only media available for learning the fine points of game was books and newspapers and Aaron used to constantly read the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the library. Newspapers used to carry chess problems which he solved and as an incentive to solve the problems, they also published the names of those who solved them. He also played correspondence chess.
Aaron dominated chess in India in the 1960s to the 1980s, took part in 14 Indian championships and won it in 1959,1961, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1981.
Until the 1960s, Indian chess, known as chaturanga and played with many local variants, was the form played in India, but it was Aaron who helped popularize the international version that we play.
For an article on this fascinating man, games and a video interview, check out the ChessBase article from 2018 HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment