Bits and pieces of a mini-chess club
One of the most difficult things in the world is to make others like what you like. This is particularly the case when it comes to the greatest mind game of all. 6 out of 10 people will tell you that they know how to play chess but they haven’t played in a long while. They lost touch mainly due to one reason: they lost touch. It wasn’t that they weren’t interested in continuing to engage in this consuming sport; just that it so happened that they lost touch because there weren’t enough people around who liked it as much as they did. And as the months or years passed by, these 60-percenters find themselves in a strange place today where they might want to start playing again while wondering whether it’s worth the effort anymore.
The thing about chess is you can’t blame anyone for your defeat. Very similar to life itself. It’s you against everything else. And if you are out of practice, you’re basically out of the zone. As a result, the stakes are high. There are a lot of individual sports out there and yet not one of them comes close to holding you responsible for your moves the way chess does. You could have gone for the pawn instead of compromising your structure — and what not! So many variations, so many chances and so many excuses to not be part of such a mindblowing (a non-word, like awesome, that deserves to be used here) escape from the vagaries of existence.
I’ve understood these nuances because of my recent re-encounter with chess. My dad taught me how to play when I was 12 and I immediately took a liking to the board. However, I don’t remember winning much but I continued playing right through school and then through polytechnic. I don’t know when I lost touch but I remember packing a chessboard while leaving Bombay for Gurgaon.
Moving north happened almost four years ago.
At the beginning of this year, something interesting unfolded during a visit to Jibhi. Since then, I haven’t stopped obsessing over chess. One of my highlights of 2018 has been this ongoing steady study of a wonderful, wonderful pursuit. As of now, I am in the middle of a social experiment. Last month, Vivek and I decided to go ahead and create a mini-chess club. We’ve been talking about it since July but it fruitioned only in September. He even came up with a name for our group: ChessNuts. So, what this mini club means is we gather every Sunday afternoon at 3 pm sharp at my place and play chess. [If you are in Gurgaon, you are welcome too.]
Plain and not-so-simple.
In the first weekend, we had only four participants in total. So, we started spreading the word in office about our weekly gathering. The following Sunday, the number rose to 10 giving us too much hope. Anticipating more members the next Sunday, we even created a WhatsApp (WA) group to co-ordinate better. Unfortunately, the figure declined as barely 7 showed up although WA group boasted of 19 members who said they will attend. Last Sunday, this figure sprung to 9 even though WA had 23.
As of now, there are 24 members on WA and we can only wonder how many folks will be walking through my door coming Sunday.
Four Sundays have gone making it easy to conclude that it’s very difficult to get people to show up for chess-related stuff. It’d be nicer if more people showed enthusiasm because overall participation not only boosts competition and experience. Playing chess online doesn’t feel anything close to practically moving pieces on the board. That’s one more aspect I admire about chess: it remains traditional with its adherence to wooden surface. That said, we have 7 chess boards and and so far, we haven’t had occupied all of them at once. I even bought a chess clock to make things more enticing!
Well, some people are genuinely interested while others are worried that their game is too weak to invest 2–3 hours of a precious Sunday that they can spend on more fulfilling pursuits.
Vivek and I keep joking that we’ll bring about a chess revolution despite knowing very well that such a task is impossible. If you follow chess, you’ll notice how conspicuous are its failings. From the corrupt federation that runs the sport to the journalists who pose half-assed questions to grandmasters to chess enthusiasts who are ashamed of admitting in public that they are chess enthusiasts, one can understand why chess is not cool enough. In other words, proper marketing is pretty much everything. As I type this, 189 countries are participating in the ongoing Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. How many sporting events attract that high a number? The possibility of you being unaware of it has more to do with the people associated with chess and less to do with your ignorance.
As for commoners like you and me, the trick is to leverage the right pull. People who chase Pokemon in metro urinals can’t say that chess is pointless. Watch how intense a 10-minute or a 5-minute or a 3-minute or a 1-minute blitz game can get. Sometimes, while playing such high-octane games, you have to choose between giving your best or dying of heart attack. That’s the point when your mind is at the edge of chaos. That’s also the point when you realize that you truly like spending time on chess.
