Manuel Aaron

Manuel Aaron (born 30 December 1935) is the first Indian chess master in the second half of the 20th century. He dominated chess in India in the 1960s to the 1980s, was the national champion of India nine times between 1959 and 1981. He is India's first chess player to be awarded the FIDE Title of International Master, and is one of the key figures in introducing international chess practices to India; until the 1960s, Indian chess (known as chaturanga) was often played using many local traditional variants (e.g. in lieu of castling, the king could execute a knights move once, if it had not been checked). Aaron helped popularize the international variety, forming many chess groups and urging players to study openings and other formal chess literature.