It is a proud event for Tamils that the first ever Chess Olympiad in India is being held in Tamil Nadu. The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held for fourteen days from today (July 28) to August 10 at Mamallapuram near Chennai.
Sports in general is exercise for body and mind. But the game of chess is an exercise in intellectual sharpness. It is in AD. A game played in India in 600’s called “Chaturang”. Till 16th century the game remained the same. Not much changed.
Since then, the game of chess has seen many changes starting from the pieces used to the use of clocks. It was only in the 19th century that many aspects of the game of chess were formalized.
Until then everyone was playing with the chess board and pieces according to their choice. The pieces we use in chess today have a design. A king has a symbol like a cross at the top. A queen is like a crown on the top. These figures were designed in 1849 by Nathaniel Cook of the toy maker Jex of London.
Howard Stanton, a chess player of the time, recognized the new shape of pieces. The pods used by Howard were used from the local competition to the world competition. Then they gave the name Stanton pattern to those pieces. To this day, Stanton pattern pieces are used in all major tournaments worldwide.
Similarly, the height of Raja Kai should be 9.5 cm, Queen Kai 8.5 cm, Minister 7 cm, Horse 6 cm, Elephant 5.5 cm, Soldier 5 cm; All norms were brought in such as the diameter should be 40 to 50% of the height. It was only in the 19th century that chess matches were played with clocks.
Prior to that, games have been recorded for up to 14 hours depending on the intensity of the game. It was only at the end of the 19th century that the title of World Chess Championship was officially announced.
In the 1800s, checkmate was the main goal of both sides. The principle of patiently moving the pieces on their side was not followed much then. It was at that time that a player named Paul Murphy came to the world chess scene. He introduced a method of attacking with poise and elegance.
He won against many of the leading chess players of the European continent. Adolf Anderson, Louis Paulson, Daniel Horwitz etc. are notable among them.
Paul Murphy’s 1858 match with Gall and Count Isard is still considered one of the most important chess matches. In that game, Paul Murphy surprised everyone by defeating all living pieces and checking the opponent on the 16th move of the game.
Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz was the first official world chess champion. From 1886 to 1894, no one could defeat him. He kept away all action and popularized the planned method of playing. It can be said that he adopted Gambitpan method and played according to it and slowly cut the pieces and ensured victory. He is also the one who popularized position playing in chess.
When chess fans thought that no one could beat him, the chess storm from Germany named Emanuellaskar took center stage in the world of chess. Emanuelskar defeated Wilhelm, the greatest chess player of the day. He is the longest reigning world champion in world chess history (27 years). Like Wilhelm, he also specializes in positional play.
Josep Capablanca became the 3rd world chess champion, defeating Emanuel in 1921. His unique method is to plan every move and make the best use of the available opportunity to defeat the opponent at the end of the game. To date no chess champion has been able to fault his endgame technique. That’s a great strategy. This chess hero who surprised the world by playing so well did not last long in the world of chess. Retired from games in six years.
In the 1920s, hypermodernism rose to prominence in the game of chess. Dominating the squares began as an alternative to simply grabbing the squares in the center of the field with pieces. At that time, many talented players such as Aaron Nimshovich, Efim Bogolyubov, Richard Ready, Ernst Grunfeld entered the field.
It was during this period that primitive methods of moving pieces were developed. The techniques of Indian Defense, Thikgrenfeld Defense and the Benani Defense became widespread.
The Alcain Defense is world famous played by Alexander Alcain, the fourth world chess champion. Until then the world champions had followed the same style of play. But he was the only one who played in a completely new style. Depending on the opponent’s style of play, his style of play is to play aggressively, sneakily or calmly plan. He was the world champion from 1927 to 1946. Alexander Alkain was the chess champion till his last days.
The World Chess Championship has been held under the auspices of the World Chess Federation since 1948. It was won by Mikhail Potvinnik of Russia and became the world king of chess. Moving his pieces to suit the opponent was considered to be a key strategy for Mikheil Potvinnik. From 1927 to 2006, the Russians dominated world chess.
Viswanathan Anand from India, specifically from our Tamil Nadu, became the world chess champion by the year 2000. Similarly, a young man named Pragnananda stands in the field for India. We can see him as a symbol of a new change. The 44th Chess Olympiad, which was to be held in Moscow, the Russian capital, has come to Chennai due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
When I served as Minister of Youth Welfare and Sports in the previous regime, various constructive works were carried out by allocating additional funds for sports. At that time, when it was announced that a prize of one crore rupees would be given to those who participated in the Olympics and won, there was no one who did not appreciate it. In that way we can see the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Tamil Nadu today as a progress in the sports industry.
Chess is an individual game. It may seem like playing it as a team. It is called Chess Olympiad. Each team will have four players. These four people will play simultaneously on four different chess boards.
It is not like a regular chess match. In this game you have to move the pieces within the specified time and complete the game. Two points for a win, no points for a loss. No points will be awarded if the match ends in a draw. The matches will be held in round robin format.
A sports competition has many aspects like energy, skill and vivacity. But this game of chess, called chess, is a wonderful game in which the players take part in relaxation and the spectators in tension.
Columnist:
Former minister.