 Madras University stood first among the Indian Universities, comfortably lifting the Raja Karan Singh Trophy in the All India Inter Universities Chess Championship held at Talod, North Gujarat University from Jan.15-19, 2000. In a strong field of 80 teams, Madras University was given the top billing by virtue of the team member's average rating. The Madras team, undefeated throughout justified its seeding being in lead and clinching the title after a lapse of eight years.
 The Madras University team composition in their board order were, T V Karthikeyan on the top board with FIDE Master's Rating, followed by World Under 18 Champion Aarthie Ramaswamy, C J Arvind, S Meenakshi, A V K Venkat and S Ravichandran. The Champions moved into sole lead after three rounds with 12 points trouncing their first three opponents viz., Vinobha Bhave, Sagar and Osmania by 4-0 margins. Nagpur with 11.5 was close on the heels of the leader. In the fourth round Nagpur held topseed Madras to a draw, winning the last board and losing the first board with the other two games ending in draw. This left Madras University with just half a point lead at 14 points, ahead of Mumbai and
Nagpur.
 The crucial fifth round that truly decided the winner was the topdraw
contest between Madras and Mumbai, which the former won comprehensively 3-1 and were helped by Calicut who held Nagpur to a 2-2 draw. In the sixth and penultimate round Madras scored a big win over Bangalore by a 3.5-0.5 margin assuring themselves of the title. In the final round Madras drew defending Champion Pune to log in 22.5 points. Osmania University shocked Calicut 4-0 to nose ahead of Mumbai for the runner-up spot.
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