We present some elements that helped Uzbekistan and India become part of the elite in the world of chess today.

Chess in India and Uzbekistan: The Not-So-New Faces of Chess

At the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, the host nation fielded three teams. In the penultimate round, India 2 faced off against Uzbekistan, both vying for the top spot. The confrontation ended in a draw, but on the final board, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Dommaraju Gukesh were locked in battle. Gukesh, who would later win the 2024 Candidates Tournament, had the advantage but failed to capitalize on it, allowing Abdusattorov to claim victory.

In the last round, despite India 2’s 3-1 win over Germany and Uzbekistan’s 2-1 victory over the Netherlands, Uzbekistan triumphed in the Olympiad; Armenia—the country that proposed to the UN to designate July 20 as the World Chess Day —took second place, while India 2 finished third.

There is a sporting rivalry between these two countries, despite their players growing up together in tournaments. Beyond the board, Uzbekistan has also started to contest the historical origins of chess with archaeological findings, explanations of the semantic origin of the word chess, the routes of the game’s spread, and its arrival in the West.

According to this new narrative, small ancient chess pieces were found during excavations in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 1990, with additional pieces uncovered in Dalverzintepa in 1996. Given that these pieces date back to the Kushan Empire, it is natural to suppose that chess was played in the ancient land of Uzbekistan at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, much earlier than the commonly accepted belief that chess was invented in India between the 5th and 6th centuries.

It is worth noting that this empire spanned territories of what are now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Adding to the archaeological argument is the semantic one. It is said that the origin of the word chess is “Sah mat” (checkmate), but there were no sahs (kings) in India in the 2nd century, as they were ruled by rajahs. Additionally, the word mat is still used in modern Uzbek to mean “desperate situation.” In this case, chess or ‘sah mat’ would mean “desperate situation or dead end where the ‘shah’ is being driven to”. Interesting, isn’t it? You can read more at the link above.

Chess in India: Coordinates of Ascent

For India, placing three players in the 2024 Candidates Tournament was a significant achievement: Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, and, almost at the last moment, Gukesh, who went on to win the tournament, becoming the youngest challenger in a World Chess Championship. It is worth asking how this success was nurtured beyond the board.

One might think this achievement is normal for a country with 1.417 billion inhabitants, but we know things don’t work that way. Chess in India has received unwavering support, particularly from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the governor of Gujarat, he made chess instruction mandatory in Ahmedabad district schools in 2009.

This pilot program laid the foundation for statewide replication in Gujarat, eventually incorporating chess benefits into higher secondary education. Modi’s primary reason for promoting chess among young people was to enhance their cognitive skills. His travels to the port city of Baku, Azerbaijan, convinced him of the superior intelligence of children there compared to other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Upon becoming India’s Prime Minister, Modi sought to replicate Gujarat’s model nationwide. However, educational policy is determined by each state. Currently, out of the 18 states in the federation, four have made chess inclusion mandatory in their curricula, including Tamil Nadu.

Additionally, the government sponsors chess camps and covers expenses for participation in various international tournaments. Private schools also incorporate chess into their study plans, and there are chess academies throughout the country.

A special mention goes to the role of ChessBase India, led by Sagar Shah. Through journalistic content and live tournament broadcasts, ChessBase India has contributed significantly to the popularization of chess in India and globally. Moreover, initiatives like the HelpChess Foundation have provided financial assistance to the most talented young chess players. This is in addition to the support they receive from the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

Vishy’s WACA Project

Previous support has been crucial for the development and popularization of chess in India. But there is another essential element in the recent successes of Indian players in high-level competitions: the joint project initiated by Vishy Anand and his friend Sandeep Singhal, co-founder of an investment firm called WestBridge Capital.

Together, they created the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy WACA in December 2020, based on two models: the Botvinnik Academy and the Frank Samford Scholarships, one of American origin and the other Soviet.

According to Andrew Soltis in his book Soviet Chess, Botvinnik and his friend Grisha Goldberg started a correspondence course for young talents in 1963, in which Botvinnik and his assistants reviewed the progress of chess players.

Each participant would submit four or five of their games for commentary. During vacation periods, they would meet two or three times a year. However, due to bureaucratic and ideological issues, the Academy faced interruptions at various times. Great players such as Kasparov, Karpov, Artur Yusupov, and Andrei Sokolov were part of the Academy.

In a similar fashion, WACA provides online instruction to young Indian chess talents. Its first members included Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshbabu, Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, and Leon Mendonca.

According to an article by Amit Kamath , the coaches cover specific aspects of the game: Polish GM Grzegorz Gajewski handles opening theories, Sandipan Chanda refines mid-game preparation, Artur Yusupov teaches endgames, and Boris Gelfand offers guidance and advisory sessions, some of which occur before significant tournaments. For the other sessions, Yusupov meets with them most frequently, four times a month, while the others do so only twice a month.

Additionally, it was Anand who recommended that Gukesh work with the Polish grandmaster. You can watch an interview that Sagar conducted with Gajewski after Gukesh won the Candidates Tournament, or another interview where he explains a bit about his collaboration with WACA.

Chess in Uzbekistan: Coordinates of Ascent

If we count the years since Modi mandated chess education in Gujarat, we’re talking about 15 years during which there has been chess development, at least in some states, reaching the most fundamental layers of society.

In the case of Uzbekistan, in August 2018, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a significant decree for the country’s chess scene. The decree, titled “On Additional Measures for the Development of Chess in the Republic of Uzbekistan,” urged the Ministry of Public Education, the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports, and the Uzbekistan Chess Federation to present proposals for integrating chess training into the curriculum of 150 secondary schools. The decree included the reorganization of chess institutions as well as measures for professionalization and accreditation.

The decree aimed not only at developing chess talent but also at the concrete idea that popularizing chess as a sport would aid in the development of intellect and the thought processes of individuals.

On January 15, 2021, another presidential decree came into force, titled “On Measures to Further Develop and Popularize Chess, as well as to Improve the Chess Training System.” The comprehensive decree complemented and expanded the scope of the previous one.

Among its objectives were:

• The implementation and annual expansion of the “Chess in Schools” project

• Teaching chess not only to secondary school students but also to primary school students

• Organizing tournaments between students and schools

• Supporting chess players with disabilities

• Improving the selection system for highly gifted chess players

• Developing infrastructure according to international standards

• Creating chess schools for children and youth through public-private partnerships, among many other measures.

It goes without saying that all these changes are being developed in stages. The first stage has a deadline of 2025. Additionally, concrete results or numbers are expected for each stage.

Winners of the 2022 Chess Olympiad

Our primary source on the preparation of the Uzbek national team is an interview conducted by Peter Doggers with Ivan Sokolov , published on chess.com. The renowned Yugoslav Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov served as the coach of the Uzbek team.

In that interview, Sokolov mentions that the Uzbekistan Chess Federation approached him during the Sharjah Masters tournament to take charge of their team. The players Nordibek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Jakhongir Vakhidov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov had already been selected.

The training method he proposed did not rely on computer analysis with Stockfish. Instead, he focused on helping the players make better decisions by highlighting what each of them should be working on. He presented them with middlegame positions arising from specific openings.

Additionally, he identified each player’s playing style to provide personalized advice. Notably, he also banned them from attending the Bermuda Party, a celebration held before the rest day, named for its sponsors, the Bermuda team.

We recommend coaches and players read the interview. It contains valuable examples that help understand the dynamics between players and coaches and the challenges both face during a game.

As we have seen, no achievement is a matter of chance. Uzbekistan and India rank among the best in the world at the national level, largely due to the support and chess culture they have developed over recent years.

You have reached the end of this article, we hope you found it interesting.

We invite you to expand more your chess cultural knowledge in our website. Best!