Chess turns to Asia

In India, not a few married couples change their lives to enhance the chess talent of their children.

In China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan it is the government that looks for and cares for the wonders.

In Iran too, but then he mistreats them for political and religious reasons.

Asian dominance seems inevitable, and even more so if Russia manages to switch from the European to the Asian Federation to circumvent part of the sanctions for the aggression against Ukraine.

In a way it is a return to the origin, because it is believed that chess was born in India more than 1,500 years ago.

Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion and astonishingly long-lived in his successes (he is still 9th ​​in the world, at 53), is as famous in India as Rafa Nadal is in Spain.

With the important difference that chess is the least expensive sport in terms of infrastructure, and the only one that can be played online.

Anand's charisma sparked an explosion of talent across the subcontinent (population 1.4 billion and rising).

Stories abound of mothers and fathers who have changed cities, jobs and lifestyles because their son (and to a lesser extent his daughter) has the potential to be the next Anand.

Although it is common for them to find sponsoring companies or some official help, the risk is not small because the competition is fierce and there is no money for everyone.

The internationally known young Indian powerhouses are already so many that a charter flight could be filled to bring them to the international open tournaments in Spain, the country that has organized the most competitions of this type every year since 1988. Of the ten best under 20s in the world, four They are Indians: Gukesh, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin.

Another problem is that almost all of them stop going to school very early, despite the fact that their great idol, Anand, recommends that they not do so because they must receive a comprehensive education.

In chess, women can choose whether they play open tournaments, with men, or only women.

This makes sense because among the 300 best in the world there is only one woman, mainly due to educational stereotypes still in force in many countries: dolls are for girls, chess for boys.

But not in China: of the seven best in the world, four are Chinese, one Indian and two Russian.

In addition, the Chinese currently hold the four most significant positions: the

(almost retired) is Yifán Hou;

the champion, Wenjun Ju;

and the finalists of the Candidates Tournament, Tingjie Lei and Zhongyi Tan.

The Chinese team that won gold at the 2019 Women's World Cup in Astana (Kazakhstan)David Llada

The great paradox is that chess was banned in China during the death throes of the great leader, Mao Zedong, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976);

anything with a Western flavor was outlawed, including Beethoven's music.

The police fined street players and searched houses for technical books to burn in the squares.

But, with the change of leader, the Deng Xiaoping government took a radical change of course: the objective was to transfer all possible players from Chinese chess (with a transversal river in the center of the board, among other differences) to international chess;

and giving priority to women, because -since there are far fewer practitioners in the world- China's progress would be faster in this area.

Indeed, Xie Jun was the first Chinese world champion, in 1991. The men began to succeed later, and won gold at the 2014 Chess Olympiad (Uzbekistan did it last July, with a very young team).

Among the under 20s, those who are emerging as future threats to China are mainly Kazakhs and Indians, in addition to the Russians.

Chess was also banned in Iran (1980s, and in Afghanistan later), for very different reasons, related to a radical interpretation of the Koran.

The situation today is as striking as it is absurd: the Iranian Federation has done a splendid and gigantic job, producing boys and girls of immense talent.

But not a few flee, fed up or fed up with losing by default to Israelis or having to play with the veil.

The best of all is Alireza Firouzja, a French citizen, who now embodies the great Western hope against the Asian threat.

Russia wants to be Asia

LG

Chess and Russia have been almost synonymous for almost a century (1926) when the new Soviet Government decided to massively promote it for its great educational qualities.

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia is the largest country in the world, with eleven time zones.

Of these, only three belong to geographic Europe.

This is what the millionaire Andrei Filátov, close to President Putin, argues to request that Russia move from the European Federation (ECU) to the Asian Federation (ACF), in order to circumvent international sanctions.

    The International Federation (FIDE) and the ECU allow Russian chess players to play individual tournaments under the FIDE flag, but Russian teams are banned.

For unexplained reasons, the ACF has been more lax on this so far, and the matter is pending at the next meeting of its General Assembly, at the end of February.

    The matter is very delicate, judging by the statements collected by EL PAÍS this Wednesday.

The president of the ECU, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, a Georgian, sees a conflict: "I know from unofficial channels that many Asian countries are in favor, despite the fact that they know that Russia is sanctioned in Europe and that it wants to move only to avoid sanctions."

And he adds: “Apart from the fact that I don't know the official position of FIDE, before entering a continent you have to leave the other.

It is difficult to imagine that Russia could be a member of two continental federations at the same time.

    Russian Arkady Dvorkovich admits that "FIDE will not decide until Asia does."

In principle, he does not see legal obstacles and he believes that the International Olympic Committee does not either.

But he warns: "FIDE sanctions do not depend on what the continents do."

In other words, the Russian teams could only aspire to be Asian champions... if they beat China, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Iran, among others.

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