During the early sixth century, the youngest Gupta prince invented an eight by eight ‘Ashtapada’ board game for setting a scenario of how his brother had been killed in the battle and for showing it to his grieving mother.
The game was a masterpiece which was shipped to Persia, and the name was later changed to ‘Shah’. After the Islamic conquest of Persia, the Arabs found the board game as a poetic symbol to describe political powers.
As the board game travelled throughout regions, countries used the same mechanics to make their own games, such as the game of ‘Shogi’ in Japan and ‘Xiangqi’ in China. Later, ‘Chess' took it modern form in Europe, in 1000 AD.
As in the past, it is still played in family and friendly settings to spice up gatherings. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, when people stayed indoors to be safe from it, the game was a tonic to their monotonous life.
This game, however, got not many fans only amid the pandemic, especially since the first wave of Covid-19 in March last year. And so chess.com held an online tournament, Pogchamps, in June, drawing in famous twitch streamers. In the diverse world of gaming, chess has been able to gain recognition by many gaming communities from their successful Pogchamps event, which consist of cherishable moments of twitch gamers making blunders. Soon after, in October, a Netflix Limited series named “The Queen’s Gambit” was aired. And there came a massive boom in the chess industry — chess boards see skyrocketing sales and apps start getting clicks in droves.
If chess were to be compared against other sports such as football, cricket, or table tennis, why should chess stand out? What are the benefits of chess which other sports cannot offer? Well, chess is deservedly called a game of wits as the game has been passed on through generations due to its creative arts. This game has the mechanism of free will, which other board or cards games do not allow.
Chess can define a player’s behaviour and their emotional state, simply by how greedily or passively the player slides their pieces on the board. If the game is played physically, overwhelming emotions form on the player's faces as they finally see their opponents' threat. Chess is, therefore, an interactive game. Every piece on the board has a heart, so using all the resources is necessary to win a game, which can come in use in real-time. Players tend to be problem solvers in real life, where they will take everything they know into consideration and take on the challenge.
Unlike other sports, this game allows its players to be creative and that includes enabling them to abandon what the coach advises and witnessing a "mate in three". Chess is a person’s confidence booster. As a person progresses in the game, it shows whether they are capable of using their creativity to deal with the world of challenges. The more competitive the environment is, the more the player’s creativity evolves.
As drops of personality spill on an ongoing chess match, it makes players self-aware on how their performance affects the game. Each match can portray how a player observes the game, and how much they prioritise their king’s safety for a quick checkmate. Hence, allowing players to investigate the lens of their opponent. It also enables players to think and predict over the opponent's moves, and this skill is useful in real life as it helps them think on their feet.
However, chess can be a difficult game to master, but if you are true to yourself and believe in progression, climbing the ladder alongside many others is possible. During that journey, relationships and bonds between your friends and families can be tighter, helping others in your community to stay positive and safe.
And soon it can give a much-needed hope that everything will come back to normal once Covid-19 ends.
Naufel is a random first year LLB student at British School of Law, as he skips time learning Chess Openings. To challenge him, contact [email protected].
