As the year passed halfway through, some of my seniors and colleagues wondered if I would participate in the chess tournament again this year. Quite a few people remembered how impressive it was that I participated in a chess tournament held in the Czech Republic last summer. Of course, it remained a special memory for me as well. Since I fell in love with chess as a child, the goal of ‘participating in international competitions every year’ has been at the top of my bucket list.
The international chess competition ‘Czech Tour’ that I attended was a large-scale competition in its own right, with over 1,000 players from 48 countries participating. This competition is held every summer in a small town called Pardubice, over an hour by train from the Czech capital, Prague.
The venue was grand and had an old-fashioned charm. Hundreds of desks and chessboards were laid out in the spacious auditorium, and the national flags of the participating players were hung on the railing of the second-floor terrace surrounding the hall. The players played a total of nine games here, one game each day. Even though we couldn’t communicate well, if we placed the chessboard in the middle, people of all ages and races could happily play against each other. A kid and an old man competed against each other, and a Russian player (officially Russian players are not eligible to compete, so they compete under the World Chess Federation) and a Ukrainian player sat across from each other.
What was more important than personal interest was reporting. This was because I decided to fill one side of the Saturday edition.
(Related article: I have selected questions that readers might be curious about. Even as someone who has enjoyed playing chess for a long time, questions that are difficult to answer came to mind. ‘What is the charm of chess that makes people flock to this small city and spend millions of won on a golden holiday? ‘ ’30 years ago, the world champion bowed to artificial intelligence (AI), and AI is now serving as the answer. What kind of fun is left?’
When my game ended early, I wandered around the venue looking for an interviewee. He approached the player who made eye contact more than twice without mercy and handed out a business card written in English. “I am a reporter from a country where chess is not very popular, and I am preparing an article to promote the charm of chess. Would you please interview me?” Then, most players opened their minds.
Albert van Wierk (31), a peer who works as an IT developer in the Netherlands, was one of them. His pale skin, blue eyes, and skinny appearance gave off the air of a ‘reclusive expert.’ It turned out that my skills were poor. His ranking plummeted each round, and when I found him, he was bickering with kids who had just entered kindergarten in the bottom group. I was angry at being scolded by a nine-year-old Korean girl.
Van Wierk said he started playing chess after watching the drama “The Queen’s Gambit” two years ago. Perhaps because I started late, my skills didn’t really improve, and I lost more games, but I gradually became hooked. Whenever things aren’t going well or I’m tired of life, I go to a chess site, and I can’t help but feel at ease just looking at the chessboard. He said that was the reason for playing chess. This 64-space world was a haven where I could take a moment to catch my breath.
The same was true for other players interviewed during the week of the competition. The answers to the question of why we play chess were generally similar. There aren’t many things in life that go my way, but in this small world, I can control situations by looking a few moves ahead. Even if you make a mistake and lose, you can always start over from the same situation the next game. Because while you are fully immersed in something, you can be free from all your worries and concerns, even if only for a moment. I expected a simple answer like ‘Because it’s fun’ or ‘I think I’ll get smarter’, but the answer I got was much more profound.
As I was organizing the interviews with the players, I suddenly thought, ‘Why did I fall in love with chess?’ I became seriously immersed in chess around the time I graduated from college, at a time when my career path was uncertain. When I was anxious before an important test or interview, I opened a chess app and played chess to kill time. Even in stressful moments, looking at the chessboard would calm my mind.
I thought everyone needed a space like this. Such a space does not necessarily have to be a chessboard. For some, the checkerboard, ping pong table, or Summoner’s Rift may be spaces that provide that sense of stability. These days, as uncertainty about the future grows and the number of young people who say ‘I just rested’ due to anxiety and discouragement increases, having a space like that is a bigger blessing than you might think.
The next competition to participate in was decided to be a tournament called the ‘Wimbledon of chess’. Applications will begin soon, and it is said to be held in the Netherlands in January next year. It happens to be held in a city not far from the city where Mr. van Juerg lives. Even if he doesn’t show up for the tournament, I plan to make time to visit him and play a game of chess for the first time in a while. I wonder if his skills have improved a lot since I haven’t seen him in a while.
(Small Column) is a light article that talks about things happening around us or our small tastes. To ensure that simple and sweet feelings are not lost on us, reporters take turns writing about the little things that appeal to us.
Source: www.donga.com
