Chess

I love the game.

Of all the indoor games I have played over the years, Chess is probably the most intriguing and fascinating games. I am still a game freak (indoor, outdoor, video) but I have not come across any game with as many variations and thought processes as Chess. 64 squares on the board leading to a million combinations to a checkmate – it’s certainly a dream come true of a maniac.

I had been introduced to Chess by my grandpa. I was 6 I think, when I was introduced to the magical 64 squares. My grandpa was a fantastic player of Chess, as I later realized. He had a very unique way of teaching Chess, which I never understood and I thought he was a very average player.

-          He let me win. Every game. No questions. He somehow found a way to get his king to get mated.

-          He stressed on elegance in winning. Killing everything on the board would do, but I would get a strong nod of disapproval from him. I still won though.

-          He asked me to play with one piece at a time. Pawns aside, I had to play a game with the Queen only, another with the Rook only and another with Bishops and Knights only. I used to have great fun with the Queen raiding through his defenses (no pun intended) but used to cringe at the game of using only Bishops and Knights. I won every game again.

-          He then asked me to play in combinations. Queen and Rooks, Queen and Bishops etc. I never understood what was going on. But then, you see, I was winning. I didn’t care how I played as long as I was winning. I listened to him, and won. Period.

He passed away after a while (I was 13 by then). I still thought that he was a very average player, and I had become a master at chess. One day, during some conversation, a family member mentioned that he represented his district in chess or something like that. I was shocked at this news. I underestimated his caliber terribly and missed the lesson totally. May be.

Or may be not. I personally think that for anyone to get interested in a game, he/she has to win it. Atleast initially. Nobody wants to end up on the loser side – and if you do lose when you are just starting out, the person is just as likely to quit playing the game. My interest in chess was high because I was winning initially. Lesson One.

I still didn’t understand what was with all the Queens and Rooks and combinations. I then hit upon Viswanathan Anand vs Gata Kamsky matches that were being telecast on TV. I was watching them very intently, although I didn’t have a clue how someone could think 10 moves ahead as was being said by the commentators. They were mentioning various openings and defenses like King’s Pawn opening, Sicilian Najdorf, Nimzo-Indian defense etc. I wanted to learn about these openings and I grabbed a book from the library. To my surprise, I had already learnt about 3-4 strong openings, courtesy grandpa. Lesson Two.

Then, peer pressure took over. I was winning as well as losing. I encountered some amazing players of chess. Losing was indeed frustrating, but with every loss I learnt something. My interest in chess, surprisingly shot up after I started losing to these remarkable players. I wanted to beat them. I learnt more, read more and practiced more. Lesson Three.

Why am I incessantly rambling on my growth in Chess? Well, for one, I love the game of chess and wanted to dedicate a blog to it. Secondly, there was a catalyst. The other day, I attended this Chess club at my place for the first time. I played against some rated players – won some, lost some, all part of the game. Then, this father-son duo walk into the club. The father goes ‘Well, my son has just started learning. He knows Queen’s raid, Two Knights defense, Sicilian Najdorf, Queen Pawn opening and Berlin defense. I hope he can become a rated player soon’. I was stunned to hear all that, to say the least. Firstly, the son has just started learning. He has to learn to enjoy the game (pivotal) and for that he has to win (lesson one). Playing him against rated players will just kill the fun. Secondly, all the openings and defenses mentioned need a lot of memorization of moves. Every move in those openings have a reason attached to them. Just memorizing those moves, without understanding the intent would leave one massacred if the opponent deviates from the text. For understanding the reason behind the move, it is critical to understand how different pieces interplay with each other (lesson two). Without lesson one and two, it is just pointless to push the person to become a rated player. Although I should not be commenting on how one should conduct oneself, it seemed to me as though the father wanted to live his dream through his son. Very wrong, in my opinion.

Chess is to be enjoyed, both by young and old. We need not decide kingdoms like the old kings used to, over a game of chess. As Blaise Pascal said, Chess is well and truly the gymnasium of the mind. It’s an extremely tantalising (easy to understand the basics, extremely difficult to master it) game. Play it and enjoy it.

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