Chess in India and chesskid.com

 Chess: Origins

Chess is a game that has its origin shrouded in mystery. There is folklore tying it up with the mythology, to be specific with Ravana and his queen Mandodari. It is said that Madodari invented the game to ensure that the war-monger Ravana stays away from the battles. Even historians trace its origin to ‘Chaturanga,’ the ancient version of chess.

Champion: Judith

The best female chess player of all time- Judith Polgar is spearheading the campaign to make it a mandatory subject in schools. Her argument is that it actually aids a student to focus better and overall improve in all aspects of their studies.

Chess in India

In India, chess is progressing rapidly, and let's check out some stats prior to putting it further under the lenses.

As indicated by the above graph, there is no dearth of talent In India. One look at the graph and it can be seen that the number of Grand Masters, the country has been churning, is on an exponential increase since the early 2000s. One can note that it coincides with the increasing usage of computers and internet in India. As kids get access to these technologies, they keep getting better.

Though things appear to be better with every passing day for chess, it is still hindered by the lack of money and popularity in comparison to mainstream sports and games. Just for the sake of stats, only 1% of the top chess professionals can make substantial money to devote their entire time and focus on the game.

Patronage and Promotion

The government of India is active in promoting chess, as exemplified by Prime Minister Modi to make chess mandatory in schools. The flag bearer of elite-level chess in India, former world champion and GM- Vishwanathan Anand leads the marketing of chess in India in collaboration with chesskids.com.

Challenges    

With the arrival of competitors that are providing a virtual arena for free, like lichess.org and

other apps on phones, Indian parents and schools are not too keen on a premium

subscription.

There are plenty of remote corners of India, wherein a chess culture has not yet developed.

These areas would need significant investment in order to penetrate and flourish the game.

However, It is very unlikely that these places would provide any ROI (return on investment at

all).

Kids are also attracted more to other online games, in comparison to chess. These

games use great graphics and storylines. As a result, they tend to be pretty exciting to play. It would be a

Herculean task to get the attention of these kids towards chess.