The Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg (Russia) is the only world-class sports competition that is still in dispute (until April 4). There are very reasonable reasons -with important nuances- to believe that it should have been postponed. But it is also hopeful and symbolic that eight stars of the mental sport par excellence are still at the foot of the canyon. And even more so if this situation is viewed from Spain, a world leader in educational, social and therapeutic applications of the game that teaches thinking.
Bill Gates has been warning for five years that a virus can be more damaging than a war. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, insisted on this a year ago. But in Italy and Spain we have not been able to see that the tragedy that had paralyzed China, where one in five human beings lives, was going to attack us sooner rather than later. Only a small minority of Spaniards foresaw the enormous risk of the feminist demonstrations of 8-M, or that of Vox. In this context, it is better understood that the International Chess Federation (FIDE) decided at the beginning of the month that the Candidates Tournament was not postponed, although it may seem irresponsible to us with the information we now have.
When Spain declared a state of alarm on March 14, the eight participants in the Candidates Tournament were already in Yekaterinburg, 1,500 kilometers from Moscow, at the gates of Siberia and the Urals. It is a city of 1.4 million inhabitants where there are currently only two diagnosed cases of COVID-19, according to official statistics. The Russian Government then canceled all international sports competitions except the Candidates Tournament. But it imposed great restrictions: no more than 50 people (players, referees, coaches, journalists, managers, etc.) at the venue, without an audience, which is in the same hotel that houses the players, with a dining room just for them; journalists are not allowed to enter the gaming room or press conferences. The only non-Russian who managed to get there is this writer, but with bad luck: Spain was included in the black list of countries while he was flying, and therefore he went from the airport to the quarantine in the hotel room, which he hopes to get rid of. on Tuesday, if the second test is also negative.
As expected with so many people confined at home, the audiences of the portals that broadcast the games live on the internet have skyrocketed. And here is the bright side of FIDE’s risky decision. Promoting a game that teaches thinking can be one of the counterweights to palliate the tendency to idiocy. There are more and more people who think less for various reasons: a very fast-paced world, the misuse of social networks, trash TV, the increase in inequality in many countries… And perhaps one day sociologists will show that this dangerous trend explains why that millions of people have elected -and, in some cases, re-elected- democratically as presidents of governments people who are not qualified to assume these responsibilities, even in countries of enormous relevance.
Spain will connect its image with intelligence through chess at the Universal Expo in Dubai, whose inauguration is scheduled for October 20, and in previous actions; among them, a world school tournament online that is already called. Such a decision is supported by history and current affairs. The Arabs brought chess in the 9th century. Alfonso X promoted it as a tool for good coexistence between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the XIII. It was in Spain -probably in Valencia- where modern chess was born at the end of the 15th century, with the queen (absent in Arabic) as the most powerful piece; and the Spanish exported it to much of America and Europe. Since 1988, Spain is the country that organizes the most international tournaments every year. Ten of the 17 autonomous communities have already introduced it as an educational tool during school hours, following the recommendations of the European Parliament (2012) and the Congress of Deputies (unanimously, 2015). And there are solid experiences, as well as scientific studies, about its great use as a gym for the mind to slow down brain aging and Alzheimer’s, and also with special people: blindness and other disabilities, autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, serious mental disorders , rehabilitation of drug addicts, prisoners, unemployed, homeless, etc., as reflected in a great report by EL PAÍS SEMANAL on June 16, 2019.
Chess has been in this newspaper every day since its appearance on May 4, 1976; with a daily column and news reports when it only existed on paper; and with videos, blog and much more space since the digital edition exists. That bet of 44 years and everything explained in this article prompted me to come to Yekaterinburg despite everything, to tell how eight gladiators of the mind continue to fight under the threat of the coronavirus.
In addition to working as a journalist for EL PAÍS, Leontxo García is a FIDE educational chess adviser and a Spanish commissioner at the Dubai World Expo 2020