Champion nation

Chess ecosystem offers lessons for others sports

Teenage grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has just won the right to challenge world chess champion Ding Liren. The 17-year-old is by far the youngest challenger in the 138-year history of the world championship. The young man won a gruelling event, Candidates, where too he was the youngest participant. In a broader sense, Candidates also indicated how much India’s chess culture had advanced. India had the largest contingent in the tournament, with five of the 16 participants. There were three players in the Open section (Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa) and two in the women’s section (Koneru Humpy and Rameshbabu Vaishaly). Candidates is among the most prestigious of chess events as it qualifies challengers for the world title. By definition, it features the world’s best players. India is considered one of the world’s strongest chess-playing nations, and the number of Indians qualifying for the Candidates tournaments buttresses that impression.

The Indian contestants were well supported with Cloud-based electronic resources. The All India Chess Federation arranged sufficient financial support to ensure the contestants did not lack resources in training and preparation, or in family support at the venue. Apart from funding from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, generous support also came from private enterprises. The Indians who qualified for the Candidates are at the apex of a large pyramid of enthusiastic chess players. India has 84 grandmasters, 124 international masters, 23 women grandmasters, and 42 women international masters. There are over 30,000 regular rated tournament players across India, and that is the world’s largest pool. There are good coaching centres across the country. Indeed, many schools offer chess as an extracurricular activity. There is a vibrant open tournament circuit as well, which enables youngsters to hone their skills.

Part of the reason for this explosion of talent is the excellent branding of chess, with ambassadors like former world champion Viswanathan Anand considered great role models. Chess is seen as a cerebral activity that helps develop skills like focus and logical thinking. Indian parents are comfortable with their children taking up the game. It is also seen as egalitarian — it does not cost much to learn the game, and talented players come from all sorts of socio-economic backgrounds. Moreover, talented players can earn enough to sustain themselves. Apart from tournament winnings and “sports quota” jobs, players can coach and run streaming channels. Large events like the Candidates have live coverage watched by millions, and popular chess streamers who commentate can earn a reasonable living.

Chess also fits in with the Digital India policy. India is a good geography for chess players because it has cheap data plans, and high mobile broadband penetration. A vast majority of chess players hone their skills online, accessing electronic databases and analytical resources, and playing at 24x7 chess websites which host tens of millions from all around the world. Gukesh would be the youngest player to ever win the world title if he does put it across Ding Liren. But he is a product of this huge ecosystem and only one of a golden generation which has several other potential champions. The chess ecosystem, in fact, offers lessons for other sports federations.