e4!

 

 

“Hello Everyone!” Didn’t get any good night sleep. So I thought Why not a good post? Atleast a post, it need not be essentially good as one might hope it would be, but I will try to keep the philosophical dosage a bit low owing to my sleep deprived state.

Many a times recently, people have been throwing one particular question at me. ” Why, why did you start learning chess?”.

So I thought why not answer the question through this post.

There are no fixed number of reasons for this. I cannot list the reasons in a bullet format but I can give you why Chess!

I joined my first job (yea ok! I am late for chess) last September and things were in a state of disorder. I was not getting what I had hoped and I despised my cubicle. This was mainly because of the lack of creativity in my arena. There are a lot of things that I could explore but there are hell a lot of restrictions which I need to break free in my work place.

I was constantly searching for something new that I can induce into my routine which can help me fill that void.

Let us keep this in one side of the table.

I should say this. My place is notorious for very good chess players(SasiKiran Krishnan’s house must be within some 2 km radius). I had successfully dodged that chess bullet which I feel was a great mistake on my part.

I have always gone by my instincts on certain things in my life because they dont lie. A recurring theme in life is the foremost signal which You shouldn’t miss because you dont get something flash in your life again and again unless it is has something to do with you. So one such recurring theme was chess. That again tells you why I chose this wonderful game.

I find,unlike in chess, logic doesnt hold good in life. Emotions take the gaurd and lead us. There are certain emotional reasons too. One such is that I always loved sports but never got myself involved in one. So I thought this should be my thing because this theme was always recurring. A part of my circle also knows this and other wonderful reasons.

And, the next reason is something which made me stay in this game or even make my love the game sustain eventhough it is only 8 months. And that is the people in my club. All of’em are wonderful lads and to spend time with them is actually great. Another reason is no kid calls me ‘uncle’, so It is a good crowd isn’t?

There are certain hardships too which I needed to cross again to prove that I actually love this game.

I would give you a sample of how passion forms and fades away.

It must be around october when my creative instincts started suffering and I divulged my attention to many things one of which was these Mandala paintings. Incredible hobby I must say but I dont know why I could not colour more than 1 page.

My coach wanted to test this whether this was a momentary impulse or if it was true love for the game. Even I have had these doubts in my mind. It took me 6 months of sincere effort to prove to him that I actually loved the game. I had this sense of accomplishment after a long time which actually felt great.

It is actually very funny because my coach also started learning the game when he was around 23 and I once had a wonderful phone call with him which I would cherish for the rest of my life.

There is one particular thing which I need to share. It was around November when I started taking Chess a little bit seriously and I actually did not have a chessboard with me. So, I created my own board on my white board with blue marker which was damn funny. I just sat for an hour staring at the magic unfurl in front of my eyes. There I started loving this wonderful game. I hope I dont stop loving it.

And One more reason to cherish the game is the players who play. I will list my favorite players even though I dont know a lot of’em.  here we go!

1. David Bronstein – Ultimate tactician and a true chess scientist. All time favorite.

2. Anatoly Karpov – The real Boa Constrictor. Favorite style.

3. Gary Kasparov – Fierce Lion. Favorite Chess Personality.

4. Tigran Petrosian – Ultimate Defence.

5. Mikhail Tal – Magician.

6. Paul Keres – the most unkindest Cut of all.

7. Boris Spassky – Beautiful.

8. Mihail Botvinnik – Riddler/ The ultimate chess Scientist.

9. Vishy Anand- need I tell you? My lichess account bears his name.

10. Vladmir Kramnik – Elegant.

I haven’t included Fischer, Carlsen, Capablanca, Rubenstein as I have not explored their games a lot. There are loads of them like Gelfand, Reshvesky, Morphy, Lasker,Speilmann whose game are complex enough to make one leave Chess. I have saved them for my worst nightmares.

And to end with a good note, 2/3 good quotes would do.

” Chess is everything. Art, Science and Sport” – Karpov

“I was unlucky, like my Country” – Second place Paul Keres.

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is wide enough for only one” – Mikhail Tal.

” In chess, as in life, Opportunity strikes but once” – Bronstein.