Cherishing Chess & Champions

Indian team became champion of women and men’s category in 45th Chess Olympiad

India became proud by becoming a winner in 201 countries

Jaswant Claudius

Raipur: 22 September 2024 became a day never to be forgotten for independent India. On this day in the history of Indian sports, our women and men players added such a chapter in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, which the players of our country have not achieved in any sport till date. Our men and women chess team, adorned with talented participants, won gold medals in both the categories in the 2024 Chess Olympiad. The game of chess is believed to have originated in India about 1500 years ago. This game was played under the name of Chaturanga during the Gupta Empire in the 6th century AD. After this, in the 10th and 11th centuries, this game spread to Persia i.e. Iran. When the Arab empire spread to Iran, chess reached Arab countries. Due to the attraction of this game, chess reached South Europe through King Maurice of Spain. Then chess started being played all over Europe. Chess increased its popularity in the south of Russia through Muslim rulers. The current form of chess competition started in the second half of the 19th century. The first chess championship on almost the current basis was held in London in 1851, the winner of which was Adolf Anderson of Germany. However, the first tournament was held in Spain in 1575, the winner of which is believed to be Leonardo De Bona.
The current set of chess was established in 1835 by an Englishman Nathaniel Cook. In this way, the game named Chaturanga from the land of India has become established in the whole world as chess by changing its rules and playing method a little bit. Seeing the popularity of chess, the International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation was formed in Paris, France on 20 July 1924. Chess is not included in the current Summer Olympic Games but the International Olympic Committee recognized it in 1999.
As of 21 December 2023, the number of FIDE members is currently 201. Thus, it is a matter of great pride for our country that the Indian men’s and women’s team has achieved the distinction of becoming world champions. Even though India has been the world champion in some sports like cricket, hockey, kabaddi, etc., but then the teams of 8 to 16 countries were recognized by the International Cricket Council in cricket. Similarly, in hockey, teams of 35 to 40 countries used to be members of the International Hockey Council. I don’t know why a game like chess has not been given much space in the media. But this achievement of the Indian chess team is historic and unprecedented. Being world champions in team sports like cricket, hockey, kabaddi cannot be underestimated, but being world champions in chess in a sports association of 201 countries has a different meaning. If we want to create a sports environment in India, then we should celebrate the achievement of all sports. Our brave women players Tania Sachdev, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Ramesh Babu, Vanshika Agarwal, Divya Deshmukh, and men’s players D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigesi, R. Pragyanand, Vidit Gujarati, Pentala Harikrishna, Srinath Narayanan (Captain) participated in the chess game. All the players performed brilliantly according to their talent. There should be celebrations in every district headquarters on this success of chess in India. Information about the players should be promoted and disseminated through the media. Now that the possibility of India hosting the Olympic Games in 2036 is increasing, this opportunity to become the world champion in chess should be used to promote/disseminate information about chess as well as the 28 main games currently included in the Summer Olympics. This will create an environment of sports in our country and strengthen the roots of sports culture