National Chess Day

If you are a chess nut, then you must know about National Chess Day. Learn more about the holiday and how to spice up the celebration here.
Chess, regarded as a game of strategy and wits, is the successor of “Chaturanga,” a war game, whose origin and patronage can be traced among the royalty in ancient India. It is estimated that it was invented during the fifth century A.D. Versions of this game spread in all directions and soon became popular in different regions, where it developed distinct characteristics to acclimatize. "Shatranj," a variant of Chaturanga, reached Europe via several empires. In England, by the 15th century, it evolved to resemble the modern version of chess.
Chess is an ancient saga that never gets stale. It is conventionally played between two players with 16 pieces each, with opposing colors, battling on 64 black and white squares on a chessboard. To secure a win, you have to checkmate the king of the opponent.

 

National Chess Day: Origin and Relevance

National Chess Day (celebrated on the second Saturday of October in the U.S.) was first observed on October 9th, 1976. On that day, President Gerald Ford of the U.S. designated it a national holiday to coincide with the country's bicentennial celebrations. Since then, the nation is observing this holiday every year.
The purpose of the observance announcement by President Ford was to encourage people and communities to play chess to improve their critical thinking skills. His endeavors to make chess popular among the masses, for sure, yielded great results. Currently, the United States Chess Federation has more than 90,000 members, and the country is undoubtedly among the top chess-playing nations in terms of performances in the Chess Olympiad. The following is a quote from him about chess-
"For both professionals and amateurs, chess is a game that sharpens the mind, tests human faculties, and encourages healthy competition. It has captivated the attention of players and spectators worldwide and will continue to do so as long as competition and excellence challenge mankind."

How to Celebrate National Chess Day

If you are pondering about how to celebrate National Chess Day brimming with cerebral swag coupled with a contribution to society, you are welcome to take a cue from here-

1.    Play in a chess tournament

What better way to celebrate the day, other than playing competitive chess matches in a tournament? You can either participate or host a chess tournament. A tough competition is not mandatory, but both participation and enjoyment are non-negotiable.

2.    Propagate chess

Starting on this day, try to be a prophet of chess. You may try to preach chess among kids in your locality or the elderly. And to flaunt your knowledge and brainpower, you could even try to teach your peers. A bit of popularity never hurts anyone.

3.    Watch a chess-themed movie/show

Gather your chess buddies for a chess-themed movie in the evening. You could either opt for classics, such as “Searching for Bobby Fischer” (1993) and “Queen of Katwe” (2016), or even binge on the recently released show- “The Queen's Gambit,” which is available on Netflix.

5 Fun Facts About Chess

#1: Mythological origins

Mandodari, the queen of Ravana, the antagonist of Ramayana, is the creator of chess.

#2: A mini model of medieval life

Chess is a sketch of the medieval period, with pieces resembling medieval characters.

#3: The mystery of the Mechanical Turk

It tricked everyone for 84 years, finally getting busted as a human-operated machine.

#4: AI is A1

Forget about mere mortals, even powerful chess engines can not compete with AI.

#5: The oldest chess set

The Afrasiab Chessmen, which dates from 700-760 C.E., is the oldest known chess set.

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.