Chess has attracted many first-timers during the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore the massive reach of the web has made it a “truly global sport”, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said to mark the primary ever World Chess Day.
“Thanks to the web, (chess) has become a very global sport. i think that it’s never more widely disseminated because it is now,” Anand said during a virtual commemoration of the planet Chess Day at the UN on Monday.
“And in fact, during the pandemic, I’m very happy that numerous people have discovered the sport of chess. Perhaps they did not have the time or they never got around thereto. But this has been a really good chance for chess to spread,” he said.
The former world champion said “most Indian parents are right” that chess will help their children do better in class.
“I hope that the present positive trajectory of chess that we’ve experienced recently will continue within the future, without pandemics even,” Anand said.
The high-level virtual event Chess for Recovering Better’ bought together chess players, UN and governments officials, representatives of civil society and academia.
In December 2019, the UN General Assembly had proclaimed July 20 as World Chess Day to mark the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924.
Over the past few months, the general interest in chess is reported to possess doubled, with more players than ever coming together to participate in chess events that are being increasingly held through online platforms, the UN said.
Anand told the virtual session that he had learned chess from his mother and highlighted the history and evolution of the sport from India to other parts of the planet.
He said tons of families across India played chess with great enthusiasm.
“If actually you mentioned to anyone that you simply played chess, very often the top of the family will leave and pull out his own set and play a game.
“So it had been a part of our culture, albeit it had to be rediscovered during a sporting context, he said, adding that while chess spread across Russia and Europe and other parts of the world, Asia had to rediscover it and India had to return back thereto.”
“In fact, once I won the planet championship within the year 2000, it felt like my journey mirrored the traditional paths, he said adding that he was living in Spain at the time and therefore the venues for the knockout tournaments were Delhi and Tehran.
“So, these were the primary three countries where chess seems to possess spread,” and he brought the chess title back to India, he said.
The UN said that with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting most sports worldwide, the primary ever World Chess day celebrates the highly-competitive game which will be played safely indoors or online and which also helps in reducing anxiety and improving psychological state.