Satanick Mukhuty

From a Chance Connection to a Chess Camp! Sometimes, a chess connection begins in an unexpected place. I first came across the name Ichalkaranji during one of my webinars on chess composition, Inside the Solver’s Mind. Among the participants was Rohit Pol, a chess coach from Ichalkaranji, a city in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district. Being the frog in a well that I am when it comes to geography, I had never heard of the place until then.

Chess, Freedom & Fun: Big Chess Independence Camp 2026 in Ichalkaranji At ChessBase India, we have two goals: to cover top-level chess events through detailed reports, videos, and live streams, and to strengthen the chess ecosystem at the grassroots by organising free training camps and events that are accessible to a wide range of people. The Big Chess Camps have been one of the most successful initiatives in pursuit of the latter goal.

Dr Solaiappan Manikumar was an exceptional neonatologist, devoting himself to the care of the sickest and most vulnerable infants, often from the poorest of families. At the same time, he was a gifted chess composer, one of no more than a handful of Indians whose problems appeared regularly in leading chess composition magazines. In August last year, a tragic road accident brought an untimely end to a life devoted to healing and creativity. He was only 45. Dr S.