On the 29th of November, I took part in a chess fixture organised by my school, Wilson’s, against Sutton Grammar.
Having never played in my school’s B team before, I felt anxious when playing against an opponent who was likely more skilled than my usual opponents from my C team fixtures.
Each game lasted 50 minutes, so it required us to be focused and aware about the threats and benefits of every move we played, if we wanted to end up victorious of course.
Amidst a mute room of both teams, I played against a boy called Sourjayan at the front of the classroom; both of our eyes were zoned onto the board, constantly observing and registering in our heads patterns, possible moves and their consequences if played.
To demonstrate my thinking in the game, I’m going to explain each stage of my decision making at a critical point in the game, to which I dedicated 10 whole minutes to.
As shown in the second image, that move was whether to push the pawn in the f5 square a space forwards (coordinates labelled by the axis of the board).
In red numbers I’ve marked his different possible responses I considered.
These were my lines of thought: he could move the bishop back, but I would push my knight to g5 and threaten checkmate on h7 with my queen, or he could do what I labelled as ‘1’, which I thought was the better option.
Then, I considered what would happen if he did that move: I have 3 different options as marked by my red numbers in my third image.
If I did ‘2’, this leaves my d4 pawn vulnerable to his knight taking it. Notice how that means his queen, his knight and my king are on the same diagonal.
This means that he can move his knight anywhere and not get it captured, because I would be busy moving my king away from the threat of his queen’s check.
That would give him power and weaken my position.
Here, I’ve only addressed the consequence of just that one variation, showing how fascinating and limitless a chess game can become.
For those interested, I’ve included more images for my lines of thought following each variation, and for the full game, here’s a study I’ve created from my score sheet: https://lichess.org/study/rDb9RiOp/TiZ6SY6E
Although the way I’ve described my reasoning may create the impression that chess is ‘way too challenging’, this is simply not the case.
What was once a niche sport originated in India has grew tremendously in popularity, expanding across most countries in the world and even played professionally.
So the next time you're bored, why don't you learn how to play chess?
There isn't any risk and there's no requirement for a physical board as online sites exist now, for example https://lichess.org/.
With practice and commitment, you can improve at the game - one step at a time, and the rewards of that are beyond words.
Through regularly attending fixtures, I’ve ascended from being the bottom board of the D team to regularly playing in the top boards of the C team last year.
And yesterday, I played a match for the B’s. It’s been a journey that has elevated my critical thinking skills, been a source of enjoyment and it’s made me a more interesting person!
