Playing In Chennai: India’s Chess Revolution

Demography, digitisation & democratisation of knowledge have powered the flow of talent

- Devangshu Datta

If the host nation does win medals at the 2022 Chess Olympiad as it is favoured to do, demography, digitisation and the democratisation of knowledge will have played a large part. Chess is a hugely demanding sport. It favours prodigies and young people in general. In that narrow sense at least, India is cashing in on its demographic dividend as one of the world’s youngest nations.

Chess is also a sport that has adapted seamlessly to the Web, and social media, and there again, India scores with its vast online population. Modern chess analysis relies almost completely on huge electronic databases and computer engines. That has democratised access to knowledge and helped a large number of young individuals from all over the country to leapfrog into the top echelons of the sport.

It took fast-talking, chutzpah, political influence and geopolitical diplomacy to bring the Chess Olympiad to India at the very last minute. The Olympiad was scheduled to be held in Russia in August 2022, but the Ukraine War derailed that. In rapid order, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) lined up the Tamil Nadu government, sponsors, central government, and other member nations, to bid for and clinch a shift to India.