Editor,
After winning the FIDE Chess Candidates-2024, D Gukesh of India has become the youngest ever world championship contender. We need to learn some important lessons from the 17-year-old Gukesh. His voluntary actions of bringing not only all his pieces back to their original squares after the end of a game, but also of his opponent’s, if his opponent leaves without doing it, show humanity as well as humility in his character.
After his heartbreaking 7th round loss against Alireza Firouza, when he miscalculated under time pressure, he was visibly upset. But what is striking is that, even after that, he went on to do his job of taking all his pieces to their home square. As Alireza left without completing this voluntary task, Gukesh, as usual, also dropped his opponent’s pieces home.
In another incident, he raised his hand towards the officials for a new page for writing the moves, in the middle of a game. Since they failed to promptly notice his signal, Gukesh walked to them and brought a new sheet not only for him but also for his opponent Praggnanandhaa.
All these actions show that this young man is good at heart. Another great aspect of his character is his ability to bounce back. In the press conference after becoming the youngest candidates chess champion, he said that it was his seventh-round defeat to Iranian-French Grandmaster Alireza Firouza that actually motivated him to win the title.
He said, “The loss kind of provided me with the energy and motivation. After the loss, I really felt that if I continue doing the right thing, and I am in the right mental state, then I can really go for the wins.”
In the 2022 Chennai Olympiad, he won all in the first eight games. It was an unprecedented feat in the history of Chess Olympiads. However, his graph showed a decline in 2023. But he bounced back at the end of 2023 when he won the 2023 Chennai Grand Masters tournament, which was his last chance to get a passport for competing in the Candidates.
After Viswanathan Anand, who became the FIDE world chess champion on five occasions (in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012), India will get another FIDE world chess champion – the youngest ever in the world – in Gukesh if he can defeat World Champion Ding Liren of China.
Let us now move from one teacher in Gukesh to another teacher in chess. Chess is a spiritual teacher. It gives us the feel of infinity. The 64-square game unfolds neverending possibilities. When we play chess, we find ourselves composed. It is a game that magnets all our being to a particular point of finding which move will be a better one.
Our children should be advised to play chess instead of cruel, silly, bang-bang video games. Chess will increase their IQ, power of imagination and concentration. It will also rescue them from sadistic video games that can turn innocent, impressionable minds into trigger-maniac, insensitive brutes. Indeed, the World Health Organisation is now preparing a draft to classify persistent video gaming as an addictive health disorder.
A study shows that four months of chess instructions have significantly raised the IQ scores of both boys and girls of 4000 Venezuelan students. According to a study, those people of 75 years or more who engage in brain-games like chess are less likely to develop dementia. A German study says that when chess players are asked to identify chess positions and geometric shapes, both the left and right hemispheres of the brain become highly active.
Sujit De,
Kolkata
