Chess

I am a chess enthusiast. I have been following chess for some time. The recent matches between Anand and Kramnik generated quite a surprising amount of interest even in the non-chess following communities. I was obviously interested. Followed their matches like a religious fanatic. Of course I tried to play like them but that is still not possible for me. If I ever play like them I would be a Grand Master!!

Chess is an interesting game. Played in a small area of 64 Squares. Where the battle is between the White Army and the Black Army. But this is as crudely as it can be put. The psychological war that precedes the competition is huge. And as the game is purely mental, it is important to note that the individual has to be sound in his decisions and game play.

I was greatly interested in this game when I was a young boy. I never went to a Chess Academy or a class. I learnt it on my own. With some help from my friends and a few books that explain chess and the chess games. By the time I reached 12^th Standard, I was the chess team captain (Junior) for my college. Had already bagged 2 medals. A silver and a Gold. But I was far from being a good chess player. I still made mistakes on the chess board. And I considered myself a mediocre player. I had started to play in a lot of competitions. Once a game was going on between two players. A small crowd had gathered around their chess table and every one was intently looking at the board. They were trying to guess the next move by white or black (I actually forgot whose move it was). Believe it or not this is a favourite pass time of a chess player. If you are not playing then guess the player's next move.

Anyway, While the crowd looked on the chess table, I watched a small kid was playing against a boy of my age. I heard from some one that both the players are really good. Evidently age does not matter on a chess table. So I was watching the game silently. I stayed there for sometime. No one moved there pieces. Both were looking intently on the chess board. Cogitating about the position and making numerous calculations.

After a little while I was getting bored so I moved to the next table. A pair of players were sting across. But at this table there was no crowd. I looked on the pair. Two young boys. Thinking!

As I made through the hall, I quickly realized that chess is a boring game to look at. I mean the only thing you can do is just look at the chess board and try to guess the next move of the player actually playing the game. The excitement generated in the game is purely for the player and not so much for the crowd, unlike tennis or cricket.

There was no action. Just mental strategy. And you got to admit, a Sania Mirza or a Roger Federer playing tennis is far more exciting than a Grand Master sitting, thinking and moving his piece after a long time. What I mean to say is that there is no physical action. From a distance it looks like two players just sitting on a table. That's It!!!! Not so exciting, right???

Once I remember I was playing against a kid. And we sat there thinking for a long time. The position was a complicated one. A man was hovering around us. He too was an enthusiastic watcher of the game, I assumed. Maybe he was trying to guess our moves. Now we hadn't moved for some time. So he had started fidgeting. This was irritating. When people play chess seriously, they don't like anything in between them to get disturbed. And some one fidgeting nearby is a distraction to them. I still don't know how people play with a crowd watching over. 

I looked at him. He looked back at me and prompted me to play. I gave him a light smile and said, " Actually we are trying to figure out whose move it is to play. We have been thinking for so long that we actually forgot whose move it was!!!"

My opponent looked up and laughed. He had got the joke. The man was unsure on how to re act on this. So he just gave a light smile and left.

Evidently he knew that his presence was getting on my nerves.

A typical thought process that goes inside a chess player's mind while playing the game. 

'Hmm..he played a pawn to e4. So that opens up his white bishop. So the next move might be probably his white bishop attacking my horse on f6. Ok. He also has a Knight on c3. But that does not threat any thing for the time being. But he has the potential to attack. I need to look out for that horse. How can I counter attack? Maybe a pawn to h6 it will prevent the white bishop attacking my knight. But that doesn't counter attack anything. It's a prevention move. My pawn at c file has an open ground, so maybe c5 is interesting, taking control over the centre and attacking his d file pawn. If I win a piece here I will go a pawn up. But his queen and his c3 horse are defending that square. I need to pile up more pressure on that. I have an option of castling too. Damn!!! So many moves I have, but which one do I play???'

You probably must have figured it out by now that it's absolute mess while playing chess. Which moves to play and which not to play. Let me just tell you, It's 80% calculation and 20% intuition. And even in that 20% intuition, there is a 90% chance that your intuition will go wrong!!

There you go, that's my take on chess!!

Play at your own risk!