C.G.S.Narayanan, Editor, AICF Chronicle and one of the world’s eminent chess problem composers, has been recently conferred the title of ‘International Master for chess composition’ by the World Federation for Chess Composition’ and is now second ever IM for chess composition from the country after N.Shankar Ram of Bangalore. CGSN’s main area of interest was the orthodox 2-mover, in the modern style, with changed mates. He is also strong in the orthodox 3-mover, which he started composing in the late 90S.Whatever be the area, his problems are marked by excellent construction, originality, economy and good solving difficulty
He has over 350 published problems, mostly direct mates, in leading chess magazines and won top honours in numerous events. He has represented India regularly with excellent results in many of the World Chess Composing Tourneys, and among other things, he has also won the prestigious Brian Harley award of United Kingdom four times. In the 9th WCCT six of his problems figured in the top twenty which helped India finish 11th among 34 nations. He won the first place in three-movers, the section usually dominated by Russian GMs, and finished third in the two-move section. He was one of the five judges for WCCI (World Chess Composition for Individuals) for 2013-15 and one of the three judges for FIDE Album 2016-18, both in the three-move section.
Besides all these achievements he took painstaking efforts to promote and educate the Indian chess audience about the chess problem art. He wrote a regular column on chess problem for “The Hindu” that ran for almost twenty years till as recently as 2001. He has been contributing to the sports magazine ‘Sportstar’ after its revival in 2012.He is the Editor of AICF Chronicle, the official magazine of the All India Chess Federation for more than a decade now.
