Confidence, Hunger For Knowledge And A Head Full Of Dreams: What It Takes To Bolster Proliferating Chess Ecosystem

Last Updated:December 18, 2024, 17:58 IST

Chess as a sport has the potential to impact the different facets of one’s life and educational institutions in India are starting to make it a key part of their syllabus.

D Gukesh celebrates with the trophy after becoming world champion. (AFP Photo)

With D Gukesh’s triumph over Chinese GM Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship 2024 final in dramatic fashion, it seems as though Indian chess has never been in a healthier state. Not just at the top level of the mind sport, but also culturally. There seems to be something special boiling under the surface and the victories at the FIDE Olympiad and the World Championship stand as testimony to the depth of the game in the lands of the ancient sport’s origin.

The fervour surrounding the game of 64 squares seems to be one brimming with vigour and passion as aficionados of the sport seem to be taking to the board now more than ever, doubling down on the craze the sport garnered during the restriction period following the pandemic a couple of years ago.

Piggybacking on the zeitgeist, institutions have started to make the sport a crucial part of the educational syllabus with Orchids International School holding a dedicated curriculum for the game.

FIDE-rated Indian chess player Vikash Kumar Dwivedi, who is the Head Coach of Chess at Orchids, explains the position the game finds itself in in the world’s largest democracy at the current time.

“These days, chess is at its peak when you can say India is leading in chess right now. Earlier, only Russia was the country which was leading on the whole stage. But these days we can say India is one of the country that is rising,” Dwivedi began.

“When we talk about Chess back when I started in 2007, that time India had just 32 grandmasters. Like in 18 years or 17 years, we have now 84 grandmasters,” he reflected.

“And now the numbers are increasing day by day, and we have 124 international masters as well. And when you’re talking about the youngsters, India is one of the countries which has the best emerging talent. We have Gukesh, we have Praga (R Praggnanandhaa), and so on.

“So these are a lot of grandmasters, who have the potential to reach the Super Grandmaster levels. And obviously in this year we had two great achievements. One is Chess Olympiad that we won in both categories, and now the World Championship,” Dwivedi explains.

Dwivedi encapsulated the elation in India as he reflected on Gukesh’s wish nearly half a decade ago to become the youngest grandmaster, foreshadowing what he has gone on to do at the age of 18.

“Obviously it is like it was a dream for all Indians. When Gukesh was 13 years, he promised that he’d liked to become the youngest world champions and now her is just that,” he reminisced.

“Not just Gukesh, but there are a lot of kids such as Arjun who reached 2800 ELO points recently and of course Praggnanandhaa. All the kids are doing really well,” he asserted.

Orchids have managed to inculcate chess as part of their syllabus, something which Piyush Ranjan Rai, National Sports Head at Orchids, takes pride in. Rai cited the explosion of interest in the game as one of the key factors for its inclusion in their curriculum alongside other popular sports such as football and basketball.

“Gukesh reaching this peak is going to be immense for the upcoming generations and the sort of impact it would have on our nation’s ecosystem is going to be unprecedented,” Rai said.

“The would definitely be an explosion of interest like it happened with our badminton, boxing, and wrestling,” he added.

“I think India is about to see a deluge of interests with people showing their interest in terms of sports as well,” Rai continued. “There’s going to be a lot of in tournaments happening, and there’s also going to be some sort of recognition. Business interests will also start focusing on the growth, sponsorships and investments.”

“This is also going to boost a whole plethora of places. Then I mean, India is a country that I think we can safely say that there are hidden features,” he adds.

Dwivedi shared interesting anecdotes of emerging players making waves in the budding chess community, despite their tender age.

“At Orchid also we see the lot of improvements the kids are getting rated. They are becoming the international speed rating chess players,” Dwivedi said.

“One of the kids is five-year-old he is travelling to Mumbai for the nationals which we are organizing. So he is coming from Chennai. He is like 4 years and 7 months only. But he he is good and has won in the under 8 category.

“India is up there in chess right now and at orchid also saw a lot of parents, a lot of students who are doing well, who have the ambition to be a grandmaster,” the FIDE rated player added.

Rai went on to shed light on the undertaking of the institution citing the snowballing of passion oozing into the game of mindful mastery.

“What we do in our curriculum is that we are trying to introduce the beauty of the game to the students. So with all this that is going on around at our schools, what we have started is to designed a proper curriculum,” he said.

“We are teaching students from Grade 1 and beyond how to play chess. First, we introduce them to fundamentals. Designing a pathway, a road map for their development.

“As of right now, and this is just the beginning, I’ll just suggest you that we have 52 players in our branches and we have more than 250 students who are currently participating in state and nationals. So capturing this as our baseline, we are trying to achieve even higher numbers. What we have started is a curriculum that is structured, where students learn from piece movement and tactics.

“They learn about special moves, they learn about the strategies. They have started playing with AI’s. We also have weekend classes online. That is where we have more than 10,000 interested student already registered. So every week or two we have this tournament where they all participate,” he added.

Rai also touched upon the effect Gukesh’s win would have on the number of players and academies that could mushroom out of the triumph.

“…I’m very sure Gukesh’s inspiring story that we see here is not only going to give a rise to a plethora of players, but also to chess clubs. You’ll see schools integrating chess into their curriculum because it is I guess the safest sports that anybody can practice or play,” Rai said.

Chess, Rai feels, can also shape the personality of an individual.

“Passion is going to develop, and when we talk about chess, we cannot only talk about the mentality but also the amount of patience,” he explained.

“That stress when we are waiting for that one move to happen. And if that doesn’t come in you change your approach. These are the few things as an athlete have inspired us and it will in continue to inspire us. It is quite exciting to see, you know, teachers, students, my team and everybody into this,” he added.

Rai touched upon the paradigm shift that the current generation is going through in terms of the manner in which they approach the game and the changing mentality of parents to involve their wards in the intellectual game.

“We live in an era of a paradigm shift. Not just us, but the whole country is seeing that shift. People are more aware and educated. I think it is high time that, through your medium, I would like to inform that our principles, our parents, our teachers, the whole ecosystem, as a matter of fact, must realise that, yes, there is a world out there where athletes can thrive. It’s not that it’s not a struggle anymore,” he said.

He went on to highlight the systemic approach the ecosystem needs to make in order to maximise the output from the current crop of budding players.

“Athletes have a shelf life around 20 years, after 35,45 years of age people usually retire. But I think we are at the age at the right place where you know, sports governance has come up, sports development is going on, grassroot level is properly targeted ticket. Now let us develop this, let us work on this. You know this kind of conditioning is required or this kind of training is required,” he stated.

“I am sure that institutions like us are recognising these individuals and giving them the opportunity to not only educate but also to bring that kind of quality and that kind of culture of sports in our country,” he adds.

“We need to take systematic steps. So, we are working with football, basketball, skating, swimming, Taekwondo, chess. We have specific experts to guide, train, educate and, you know, conduct these activities where students are exposed.”

The promise of career in a sport in a community like India, which has closely been guarded by education as such received a spark from Abhinav Bindra’s golden run at the Beijing Olympic Games all the way back in 2008, Rai feels.

“Well, I think it all started with Abhinav Bindra, if I have to be very honest. His first gold medal in that era sparked that,” Rai says.

He spoke about the role educational institutions play in the proliferation of the sport, while also explaining the challenges and pitfalls that one might face along the road to holistic development.

“When we provide a curriculum, when we are cementing the fact that sports is no longer a co-curricular activity. It is part of the education system. And I think I, I think we should thank our education system as well. You know, CBSE, ICSE where they have mandated sports to be integral part of the syllabus. So that gives us a basic standing structure.”

“What we have to do is us as educators need to break down to take care what is it required at grassroots level. For example, you must have heard of long-term athlete development program. Take this with a pinch of salt. It cannot be implied in a school because school has a lot of other curriculums as well. It’s better suited for an academy or a coaching institution. But when the curriculum is there, it is to educate. So, it is a learning process,” he added.

He went on to point out the role academies play in completing the course of learning and the yardsticks of evaluation of player developments.

“We teach them step by step in classrooms and we have after school programs, after school academies where we focus on competitive training. So skills are taught in the classroom, skills are practiced in the Academy. So it’s coming sort of full circle,” Rai said.

“And how do we validate that? We validate that by sending students to different events and tournaments and championships. And whatever the learning experience is you can always go higher and I think you should always push for that next level. So that is what we are trying to go ahead with. Excuse me. Having said that, it is important for us to consider the fact that in school not everybody is inclined towards sports. So that kind of respect has to be taken and has to be considered what every other individual.

“So we know where we come from, but that does not mean that we cannot learn at this point, right? So yes, no better time to be alive for sports education and you know, sports thriving. I’m pretty sure this is just a start. I’m absolutely sure this is just a start,” he affirmed.

Dwivedi jotted down the process of teaching chess from a very fundamental level to young minds before taking giant leaps in the process of knowledge transfer on the board. Rules, nomenclature, and principles serve as starting points in enlightening impressionable minds in the art of chess.

“So right now in Orchid, we are going on according to the classes on the base of the classes. So we are dividing the class into two groups. One is the complete beginner. We try to teach them the basic stuff like learn the movements of pieces and the basic rules of the game. These are the terminology basics, yes, how they can generally play matches,” Dwivedi, one of the CWG representative from India for chess, stated.

“For those who are already aware of these things, for them, we have a design curriculum where they are playing matches in the same time they are learning how can they play in a better way. So they are learning the tactics or what to do when there are the tactical things that they are learning in the same time. In the same way like obviously we are organizing the tournament,” he added.

Dwivedi explained that the curriculum needs to be tailor-made in accordance with the requirement of each player and there is no one-size-fits-all. Further, players would do well to discover their inclinations with respect to the approach they take, be it aggressive, tactical or slow build up.

“The curriculum and the kind of training, the intermediate or the advanced, it’s about the way the knowledge they have. Chess is divided into three groups – opening, middle game and end game.

“…we teach the particular openings according to style. If a student wants to play attacking mode, we teach them the attacking openings. The one who is very good in positional play, they want to be slow – take action in a slow mode. So we teach the positional opening to them.  Some are obviously sharp minded, they want to play tactical matches only. So we teach the tactical things to them,” Dwivedi explains.

Dwivedi also touched upon the necessity to remain fit physically and mentally to get the best out of a person’s potential and cited the example of the legendary Viswanathan Anand, who is an avid cyclist and a swimmer in addition to be an exemplary chess wizard we all know and cherish.

“Brain is obviously connected to the body as well as and irrespective of the activity we do, it important for us to stay fit and train our brain as well. When you’re talking about the brain game (in sports), chess is the only option right now that the kids are playing,” he said.

“Viswanathan Anand, for instance, cycles and swims. It is one of the important factors, important thing that the players have to do as well as and everyone is doing it. Whoever is playing chess, they are also involved in that.

When we talk about student’s mental activity and health, what we do is we at times tend to give them some sort of activities sheets as well for chess. We set up the board with certain moves already made and ask them to finish this game. Like chess puzzles,” Rai added.

Rai went on to liken the art of formulating tactics and the ability to transpose ideals from other sports and inculcate them into the world of chess. The exposure young minds get from staying involved in multiple activities could help in accentuating their overall development and boost their performances.

“You give them activities so that they stay sharp. I think the best example of football, as we can draw parallels to strategising the approach to the situations. And I think this kind of exposure is very important because it’s a creative way of thinking. And I think that is what is also required, very important because students are developing at this age group,” Rai continued.

“And I think it is high time that we get them this exposure where they learn from their surroundings as well, not only what is being taught to them, but something that they creatively come up with.”

Rai also spoke about the essence of teaching kids the art of losing with grace and the beauty in humility.

“I think it is high time we teach students humility. There should be a grace in losing the events. These things develop character, and one should accept it. So acceptance is something that that should be taught first. This is what exposure they need to get. This is sort of exposure they will experience only if they are even subjected to a tournament. There is difference in playing tournaments online and in real world. There’s so much difference between the two. We are not able to regulate our emotions when we lose.

“Second is, I think patience. A lot of students lose their step, rhythm and the game as they tend to be in a rush,” Rai continues.

“They need to understand that they’re not the best yet because it’s just one moment. They’re not the best yet. So that realisation, humbleness that yes, I may be a good player, but there’s always someone better than me has to be learned. This is what we do with our tournaments that we conduct.”

Dwivedi enumerated the potential in overall character development provided by the platform called chess and the reception this factor receives from the parent community.

“It’s just changing the personality when you’re playing chess. So it’s really interesting thing like when you’re talking about chess, you need to increase your patience level. It helps to take a decision during complications,” Dwivedi said.

“Chess also helps to increase your soft skills. So, these days parents want kids to be involved in chess which would in turn help them in life,” he added.

Rai then explains the role parents play in the development of the players and the entire ecosystem in a manner that the sport encourages in dealing with failures and the strengthening of the familia bonds through the activity.

“I think parents also play a very important role. Their support when the students win or when they lose, what type of temperament they carry. I think that also plays a vital role because I think parents also need to understand that it is OK to lose. It is not OK to expect the child to always win. They should know how to treat students in defeat.

“I think that’s a part and parcel itself. Sports not only develops personality of a student in terms of their approaches, strategies, temperament but also develops the entire family together. It brings everybody together. And I think that is something that this is worth looking forward to. And these constant scenarios definitely build a better bond, not only from man to man, man to child, or on a holistic level, I think it’s important and that people have started to learn,” he added.

However, coaching chess at a beginner level and coaching chess at a grandmaster level are two different ball games. Despite not being able to put a finger on the exact ambiguities present between the two, the commonality remain in possibly being able to put one’s head down and focus on the board while channelling out the background noise, whatever it might be.

Rai and Dwivedi seemed to be of one mind in terms of carving a niche for oneself instead of flocking with the popular trends of the times.

“I think there’s not a very absolute answer to this. I think students, potential students of that calibre should keep their head down. They should not get things in their head. They should not follow the trends. I think when we look at Prag or Gukesh, one thing we should see that they made their own paths. Following a path, one in a million, one in a trillion. I mean, it’s a very huge probability, but I think making your own path, making your own decisions, not getting influenced by trends, I think that is more important.

“That is something that we need to teach. I feel in this day and age there are so many mainstream things and we need to differentiate between what is good and what is not, which is basic. And how we differentiate ourselves with respect to the quality of others.”

Dwivedi went on to talk about the institutionalisation of the sport that needs to go hand in hand with the transfer of the know-how in order to bolster the ecosystem.

“I think it is high time institutions like ours, some good institutions that are out there, academies, the government who’s taking initiative, for example, Khelo India Games must step on what they are doing.

“We need to be resilient. Parents need to encourage kids to learn something new and not be obsessed with winning. They should ensure the kid isn’t overwhelmed and is at peace with what he is doing. I think every champion that they have seen, every achiever that we have seen, they have made their own path. Stay away from the trends. You look your own way, you make your own trend,” Rai concluded.

Dwivedi highlighted the importance of staying hungry, assured and ambitious as the cornerstone to achieving one’s true potential whatever level it may be.

“Confidence is one of the things, dreams and the hunger for learning. You look at young kids with their head full of dreams, that has to be cherished. And most importantly, I think the hunger for learning will take you places. I have seen players discussing with their opponents after victory and defeat in order to sharpen their abilities,” Dwivedi said.

“You got to stray away from stuff such as ego and aggression and focus on learning. You have to work in the right direction and learn day by day to make your own path,” Dwivedi signed off.

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First Published:

December 18, 2024, 17:58 IST

News sports Confidence, Hunger For Knowledge And A Head Full Of Dreams: What It Takes To Bolster Proliferating Chess Ecosystem