India loses Lord’s Test.
Chess. Shatranj, Chaturanga, Chadarangam. 8×8 grid, 64 squares of alternate white and black, board game for two players. No hidden information and elements of chance. Been initiated into playing Chess very early, even before going to Sarvail Gurukulam. Became Chess Captain in Sarvail. A group of three emerged – Sudhakar, Raghu and me, challenging anyone and everyone to play chess with us and win. Post school, Chess became a part of parcel, of our being, into Sagar, Warangal and Anand, till at least getting fully into ‘development practice’, with no bandwidth for anything else. While our school insisted on we playing all kinds of games and sports, we ended up spending more time with Chess. In Warangal, bridge got added up; photography practice got intensified; gradually, co-curricular, extra-curricular, cultural activities got added up; served several associations/clubs, and participating in their activities, including co-leading ‘Silverfest’, all India inter-collegiate cultural festival, along with academics. Continued to remain co-curricular and extra-curricular enthusiast in general, doing crosswords, being current on literature, following Chess, and other sports.
Chess. White and Black pieces. 16 pieces each – one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. Each type of piece with a different pattern of movement. One step at a time by a player followed by the other. The object of the game is to “checkmate” the opposite king. Chess probably emerged in India. Today, chess has millions of players worldwide. Chess is governed internationally by FIDE – Fédération Internationale des Échecs, or International Chess Federation, with membership of 180 national organizations of Chess. The first universally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Other champions include: Botvinnik; Boby Fischer; Anatoly Karpov; Garry Kasparov; Viswanathan Anand. Gukesh Dommarju is the current World Champion (men); and Ju Wenjum is the current World Champion (women). V Anand has been the face of Chess in India for over three decades.
Highest Elo rating of all time, 2882, was achieved by Magnus Carlsen in 2014. Current ratings: Carlsen 2839, Praggnananda R 2779, Gukesh D 2776, Arjun Erigaisi 2776, V Anand 2743, Koneru Humpy 2546, Harika Dronavalli 2500 et al. In Chess, an individual moves with titles by achieving the minimum rating at least once – Candidate Master 2200; FIDE Master 2300, International Master 2400, Grandmaster 2500. The title also requires achieving three norms – in tournaments that involve other Grandmasters and/or World Junior Championships etc.
Practice of Chess teaches us foresight, circumspection and caution in life. Chess game structure and nature are closely related to mathematics. The number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be (4.59 ± 0.38) × 1044 with a 95% confidence level with game-tree complexity of 10123. Chess is a basis for game theory. Chess could also be used for mental training – memory-imaging, look-ahead search; brain imaging of masters; blindfold chess et al.
Can we do our daily practice of reading, writing, notes, numbers, calculations, crosswords, literature, music, playing, walking/jogging/cycling, meditation-reflection, observations, conversations, being in/with nature, diary et al? Participation, Participatory-LEAPs, Teamwork, Yatras, Writeshops et al.
Yes, we can. If we coexist, flowing. Daily practice. In N? abhyasanayoga for 7L.