Chess – now and then

This post is split into two parts. The first part talks about my chess activity, and the second part is about the world of chess on the eve of a special celebration. The two parts are independent, and the second one is more interesting.

Part I

Recently, I played in two chess tournaments in Krakow. They were both of classical chess time controls, which lasted 3-5 hours per game.
First was the 35 edition of the International Chess Championship of Malopolska. I played in the B group of this tournament, for players rated between 1750 and 2000. The venue was Galaxy Hotel on the shores of the Vistula River. Many foreigners participating in this tournament were kids from Ukraine from Lviv Chess Academy. They had T-shirts with their club name on them. They played well; of the international players, the Ukrainians were the only ones who gained ELO points. There were also two players from Romania I did not know who also played in the Grenke tournament. We chatted during those days in Krakow; they were also impressed by the Grenke tournament. We all agreed that the chess level played in Krakow was much better than in Karlsruhe at the same rating. If you want to win games, go to Grenke; if you want to play good chess, come to Krakow. My result could have been better, but my games were exciting and fun, even when losing. That made me want to play one more time.

The second tournament was the 12th edition of the Cracow International Chess Championship. I played the B group of players again, rated below 2200 ELO. The group consisted of 185 players from 27 countries. I was the only Romanian this time. The venue for this tournament was Hotel Premier in Krakow, situated outside of the city center but easy to reach by car or bus. The special guests of the tournament were the Botez sisters, who streamed their games online. They have a well-known Youtube channel with 1.6 million subscribers. They were born and lived in Canada, but their parents are Romanian. Also, more than 15k people were watching their games live during the tournament. They finished with 5.5 points from 9 rounds each, while my result was 5 points from 9. I will share one of their rounds below to show how difficult playing an official chess game is. Their coach’s commentary is instructive.

I’ve discovered a powerful connection between sleep and chess results. The nights I slept well, I ended up with 5.5 points out of 6 games, while when I did not sleep well, I got 0 out of 5 games. It is not that I was biased. I tried to play better in each game. In one of the games, I had a winning position but made a mistake and lost.

With these tournaments, my results for the 25 classical games I played in 3 tournaments this year are 13 points, a little over 50%. I won 11 games, made 4 draws, and lost 10 times.
This concludes my chess games this year, as I don’t have enough vacation days left. I will focus only on running, with three half-marathons planned for autumn, the first of which is Cardiff.

Part II

On July 20, 2024, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) celebrates 100 years of existence. On that day, in 1924, 14 countries, including Romania and Poland, signed a document establishing FIDE in Paris. This part of the article is a small tribute to chess history.
If you want to understand the rest of this post, please watch the documentary below. No chess knowledge is required, only a sense of humor. Stephen Fry went to Thessaloniki in 1988 and made a movie about the 28th Chess Olympiad. The chess Olympiad is played every two years and is a team event; it is the most crucial chess team event.

This was the last Olympiad before the fall of Iron Curtain in 1989. Many things have happened since. Yet, in the chess world time flows differently. Grandmaster Anand, 55 years old, who played at that event for India is rated 11th player in the world today, 36 years later.

In July 2024, in Krakow, the World Senior Team Chess Championship was held for players over 50 and 65. This tournament was played in Galaxy Hotel, the same venue as my first tournament in Part I. In chess, there are only two categories for veterans: 50+ and 65+. I’ve counted 20 to 30 players from the Thessaloniki Olympiad playing in Krakow 36 years later. Team England 65+ featured two players from Stephen Fry’s documentary: John Nunn and Jonathan Mestel. However, the rest of the players in the documentary continue to be close to chess; Jonathan Speelman plays in many chess tournaments each year, and Nigel Short plays in a chess tournament this year.

What happened with the members of the USSR Olympic team who won in Thessaloniki? Kasparov retired from chess 20 years ago and moved to politics, being one of the most important Russian opposition leaders. Karpov also stopped playing chess about five years ago. Artur Yusupov retired for many years. Beliavsky plays for Slovenia and is an active player. Ivanchuk, at 55, is the 100th player in the world, is still very active, and plays for Ukraine. Jan Ehlvest plays for the United States at the World Senior Team Chess Championship in Krakow.

John Nunn and Jonathan Mestel played for the England team for the first time at the 22nd Chess Olympiad in 1976 in Haifa. That was almost 50 years ago. Nunn played on the primary team of England until 1994 and later moved to the senior teams. England won the World Chess Championship in Krakow in the 65+ category. They did not win in 1988 but continued and won in 2024. This is indeed true in a different context. As you can see in chess, playing strong for a very long time is possible.

Another English player has even more impressive results in time. Michael Adams played for the first time for the England team at the Chess Olympiad in 1990. He has played in the main team ever since and is expected to play even this year. At 53, rated 2672, Michael Adams is the 55th player in the world and the third player in England. However, as he is over 50, he also played in Krakow’s senior championship 50+ section.

Unlike other sports, the world of chess has changed slowly over time. These people are in their seventies, still going strong, and very sharp mentally. Studies have shown a much lower risk of mental diseases for people who play chess.

Chess is an individual game and such the history of FIDE is made of many such individual histories and dramas. It offers many lessons of life for people willing to pay attention.

Across the world, many events celebrate the anniversary of chess. In Bucharest, a special event was held at the Triumphal Arch to mark the 100th anniversary of FIDE. In Krakow, a chess photography exposition was opened. In London, in Trafalgar Square, on July 7th, more than 23000 people gathered to play chess in a special yearly event.

FIDE motto, “Gens Una Sumus,” translates to “We are one family.” FIDE has 201 state members in 2024. Another chess Olympiad, the 45th edition, will begin in September in Budapest. Chess has a history of over 1500 years but has never been as popular as it is today.