THE MILITARY SYMBOLISM of the pieces on a chess board is hard to miss. Before the Europeans tweaked the pieces to reflect their social order, chess, in its early years, was a game of war using purely military units. But while war is loud, brutal and erratic, chess is quiet, logical and safe. The battle is restricted to the players’ minds.
Nevertheless, Hemant Mishra wants to revive the original metaphor. “It is a war, for all practical purposes,” he says as he sits down for a chat over Zoom. He is talking about the long hours of rigorous training that his son, Abhimanyu, is undergoing to become the youngest chess grandmaster (GM) ever. The 12-year-old from New Jersey has already earned two GM norms. He has until September 5 to collect his final norm and break the record of 12 years and seven months set by Sergey Karjakin in 2002.
The path to rewriting history is a painful one. Abhimanyu trains for 10 to 12 hours a day, as against the four to six hours that others his age spend on chess. It helped him become the world’s youngest international master in November 2019, beating the record set by R. Praggnanandhaa. At the time, Abhimanyu had a cool 22 months to crush Karjakin’s GM mark. But to his dismay, he lost 14 of those months to the pandemic. Though there were online events, GM norms can be earned only on over-the-board events. Hemant promised him to take him to wherever events were held as soon as things opened up. And that is what they did.
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin June 20, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin June 20, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Trump And The Crisis Of Liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
