Chess And Me: A Relationship That Goes Back Decades

Chess was one of my life's earliest interests. I lived in Thimpu, Bhutan, from 1977 to 1980, from the age of 4 to the age of 7. A colleague of my father's was a gifted Chess player, and he taught me the basics of the game. My father played a bit too, so I got some practice with him. By the time I was 7, I was well versed with the rules of the game. We moved to Delhi in 1980, and for the next few years, I hardly played any Chess.

In 1983, we moved to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, when I was 10. Our Grade 6 Homeroom Teacher at the International School Of Belgrade, an American by the name of Mr Doneski, was a Chess enthusiast. He took Chess classes after school, and I signed up for them. That's when I really got into the game. I became the School Chess Champion when I was in Grade 6, and that really boosted my confidence. Mujib Rahman, a Bangladeshi senior in my school was my regular Chess partner. He was the only one in school who could beat me, and we played many memorable games. Deepak Malik, an officer in the Indian Embassy in Belgrade and a junior colleague of my father's, was a very talented Chess player, and I played a lot with him too. I still remember the joy I felt the only time I beat him in about 30 attempts!

From 1985 to 1989, I lived in Vienna. I didn't play too much Chess during those years, but I was among the top 5 players in my school, the Vienna International School. Arijit Borthakur and Avijit Borthakur, twin brothers from India, were good at the game, as were a few of my schoolmates from the Eastern European countries.

In 1989, it was back to Delhi for me. For the next 2 years, Chess was almost completely out of my life, because there was heavy academic pressure in Grade 11 and Grade 12. Having come from a totally different academic system in Europe, it took me a while to settle into the Indian curriculum, and that's one phase of my life when I really worked very hard at my academics. So there was very little space in my life for Chess or any of my other interests.

Next up was my phase in Delhi University's Hindu College from 1991 to 1994. That was the peak of my Chess playing days. I would carry my Chess set to college, and hardly a day would go by when I didn't play for at least a couple of hours during the long breaks between my classes. I joined the Hindu College Chess team, under the able captaincy of Jaswinder Sing Kakar, one of Delhi's top junior players. I have him to thank for taking my game up to the next level. My college also had Nikita Vats, who had an Indian father and a Russian mother. Nikita went on to become one of my closest friends, and he and I played a hell of a lot of Chess. Jaswinder, Nikita and I were the regular members of the Hindu College Chess Team, and our moment of crowning glory came when we won the Delhi University Chess Championship in 1993. 

Delhi had several top notch players during those days, who were not just Delhi's top juniors, but also among the most promising juniors in the country. There were people like Aman Chandra, Manish Mehra (who had a FIDE rating of over 2200), and Gurpreet Pal Singh (who went on to become the National Junior Champion and had a FIDE rating of over 2300). I played a fair bit with these top players, and though I wasn't in their league, I improved my game, and they became my friends. Delhi also boasted of Sri Ram Jha (who went on to become a Grand Master), and Tania Sachdev (who was a child prodigy, and would give the top players a run for their money when she was just 6!; she eventually went on to become a Women's Grand Master). During that phase, I also played a lot of Chess with other players like Sameer Singh (who was 6 years my junior, but was a very promising teenager) and Aamir Qureshi (a neighbour of mine, and a member of the Chess Team at Delhi Institute Of Technology).

During my Hindu College days, I had experiences like having all-night Chess sessions on New Year's Eve with people like Aman, Manish, Jaswinder, and Gurpreet. In these sessions, we would bring in the New Year with Chess, and continue playing till the early hours of the morning!! In 1994, my birthday get-together had to be a quiet affair, because my father was recovering at home from a heart attack; so instead of having my regular birthday party, which would have disturbed my recuperating father, I organized a Chess tournament at home; the participants were Gurpreet, Manish, Aman, Jaswinder, Nikita, Aamir, Amit Roy (another player from my college), and me; it was a unique, unforgettable birthday celebration that everyone remembers decades later! 

From 1991 to 1994, I played in several Delhi State-level Chess tournaments in the Junior (Under 19) and Youth (Under 25) categories. I did fairly well in several of the tournaments, and I would normally finish among the Top 10, but I needed to be in the top 4 or 5 to qualify for the Nationals, and I didn't quite manage that, though on one occasion I came close, finishing just outside the Top 5.

During my Hindu College days, my close friend, Barun Sen, would get very bugged with me, because instead of hanging out with him and chasing girls (like guys of that age are supposed to do!!), I would spend most of my spare time playing Chess with people like Jaswinder, Nikita and another friend, Amit Agarwal. Out of exasperation, Barun would sneak up to where I was, and he would go off with one or two of my pieces, in the hope that I would finish playing and hang out with him and have 'fun'! Well, that wasn't to be, because I would use leaves, stones, or twigs to replace the pieces he had run off with!!

Next up was my MBA in XLRI Jamshedpur from 1994 to 1996. I was on the XLRI Chess Team. A batchmate called V Ramanathan and I were the two best players in XLRI, and we represented the institute quite successfully in the iconic XLRI vs IIM Calcutta sports meet. In one of the years, we beat IIMC in Chess, and in the other year, we drew our encounter.

In 1996, I started my professional career, and I spent 10 years in Britannia, followed by 5 years in Nokia, before starting my entrepreneurial venture, Memory Marg. After I started working, I did play Chess from time to time with friends, but I didn't really have time to pursue it in a big way. There was certainly no time to participate in any tournaments. My game stagnated, because I wouldn't play more than a few times a year. 

During my early working days, I did once get the opportunity to interact fairly extensively with Vishwanathan Anand, one of the biggest names in World Chess. He was a Brand Ambassador for NIIT, and I had a friend, Shobha Ramani, who was in the Marketing team there. NIIT had him for a few hours for an advertising shoot, and knowing that I was a Chess fan and an ardent admirer of Anand's, Shobha asked me if I'd like to come for the shoot. I grabbed the opportunity and went. I enjoyed interacting with Anand, and was overjoyed with his levels of accessibility, politeness, and openness for a random stranger! Anand's wife, Aruna, was also a delight to interact with. I left with very fond memories from that memorable interaction!

In 2019, after almost a quarter of a century away from competitive Chess and aged 46, I played in a large National-level tournament in Delhi, organized by the All India Chess Federation. The tournament had over 700 players from all over India. The top players in the country did not participate, because there was a FIDE rating cap of 1600, so there certainly weren't any Grand Masters and International Masters. However, the standard was high, and it was good to see that a large number of the participants were youngsters, largely teenagers, and some not even in their teens. I was impressed to see the popularity of the game, and the depth of talent that existed among the youth. Players like Vishwanathan Anand had certainly played a key role in making Chess a very popular option among the youth! I did relatively well in the tournament, considering my long absence from competitive Chess. I finished with 3 wins, 3 draws, and 3 losses from 9 games. It wasn't a brilliant performance, but it was enough to finally get me a FIDE rating!

Several people in my Gurgaon condo were keen on learning Chess - they were largely kids, but there was also a kid's mother, who was keen that at least someone in the house should be able to play with her young son. I offered to teach them in my spare time. I also started teaching my son, Rehaan, when he was not quite 5 in 2019. It took him a couple of years to develop a real interest in the game, but now he's almost 7, and I'm starting to find that he's getting more and more involved in the game. For some of the people I started teaching, the spark was the popular Netflix serial "Queen's Gambit", which became a rage in 2020. I took up the role of teaching Chess simply out of interest initially, and I took a very nominal fee for my time. 

Soon I realised that I was enjoying teaching; I was reconnecting with an activity I loved;  my students were learning well, having fun, and getting excited about the game; and I was getting very positive feedback for being a thorough and patient teacher. Now Chess is a very technical game, and I figured I may not be in a position to coach very advanced players, but I decided that I could certainly coach newbies to the game, and give them a solid grounding into the basics of this thrilling but complicated game. So that's what I decided to take up professionally in the summer of 2021, as my business went into long hibernation with the Covid pandemic. I put out a basic communication among known circles, and I started getting enquiries from parents who were keen that their kids should learn Chess. I took complimentary trial classes with the kids, using Zoom and physical boards. Without exception, all the newbies who took the complimentary trial class seemed to find it useful and interesting. So within weeks, I had well over 20 students learning Chess from me - students largely between the ages of 5 and 13, spread across Delhi NCR, Singapore, Melbourne, Bangalore and Coonoor. Some of my students were total new-comers to the game, so I had to start with the basic rules and moves. A few of the students knew the rules, but hadn't had any formal training. Some were fairly good at Chess, and just needed some hand-holding and tips to sharpen their skills. I had to personalize my classes for each individual, given that skill levels were so different. I also had to take detailed notes after each class, in order to keep proper track of what all I have taught each of my students.

I've enjoyed coaching the kids, and it has gladdened my heart no end to get positive feedback from them and from their parents. As I teach the kids, I have also got back to learning more by accessing books and material, in order to hone my skills further and become a better coach. Chess has been an integral part of my life over the years, and I am glad that I have been able to get back to it in a big way! I'm also glad I'm able to do my small bit to popularize this game that has given me so much of intellectual stimulation, so much of joy, and so many like-minded friends over the decades!