Chess mahotsav 2010 – Guiness World Record

A world record of twenty thousand people playing the royal game of chess simultaneously on December 24, 2010 at Ahmedabad – kudos to Shri Narendra Modi and his government. Gujarat became the world leader in a record beating the previous best of Germany of thirteen thousand population.

The bottom line was to promote chess amongst school children of Gujarat with a view to instil patience and an exercise of intellect. The top line was the exhibition of such a mammoth event in very less time, with the help of GSCA(Gujarat Chess State Association), NIIT and Govt. of Gujarat. It was splendid.

GMDC ground at Ahmedabad was chosen to be the venue. Top chess players from all over the state were invited to participate. So were multitudes of school kids. Uniquley and quite exquisitely decorated, the playing arena looked like a giant chess board of blacks and whites from over the top. Huge chess pieces greeted you at the entrances. So were the army of State buses fetching the kids.

I happened to luckily play the event as a Master. Lucky, for I perhaps entered last in the registration. There were around 900 masters altogether; each one having to play against 20 school kids simultaneoulsy. The event witnessed, as guests and mentors, many luminaries - prominent amongst them were GM Vishy Anand, GM Tejas Bakre, Paresh Rawal, Manoj Joshi and last but not the least - the dynamic CM Shri Narendra Modi.

Wonderful chess players, arbiters , kids, organisers ornamented the event. For me, it was a rendezvous with lot many chess players with whom I used to play incessantly few years back. I met my coaches, my friends and many parents.

Playing agaisnt 20 players simultaneously is pretty exciting, but by the end of the games I felt it was exhausting circling for an hour or two constantly. The stages were colossal chairing CM and the GMs, Bollywood actors and also most other dignitories. It was great fun when the Shri Narendra Modi walked past me through the aisle of my playing arena.

During the presentation, I managed to be seated onto one of the diases, clicking pictures with my bloody 2MP camera I had at that point of time. Even though I did manage to click some great shots. Witnessed the flamboyance of CM Modi – his charisma, his power, his thrust of speech. The huge event came to a fantastic end with Gujarat being officially declared as Guiness World Record Holder for maximum number of chess players playing in a simultaneous. The exact figure was 20,484 ! Shri Modi was conferred upon the Certificate by the Guiness adjudicator.

The event was one of its kind and shall remain ingrained in my memory for years together.

- Susnato.

With the World Champion

This man does not bathe in news nor is he the sizzling hero of common multitudes, but he certainly is the king of the minds and brains – the very one and only GM Vishwanathan Anand.

His recent world championship title against GM V Topalov of Bulgaria proved once again that he is undisputedly the most versatile and prodigious chess-master even at 40. Truly he remains the cherished icon of every single chess player of this motherland.

My experience with the grandmaster was exceedingly rich, inspiring and touching. I was moved to be in the very presence of the six feet tall milky king – so gentle, so submissive that will perhaps give you the futile illusion of him being a true genius and world-champion.

It all started in fall 2006, wherein I got an opportunity to play in the NIIT’s National Chess Championship – the very brand that sponsors Vishy from inception. It was indeed a hectic tournament which filtered players from grass-root levels i.e. from school level to the Nationals. For the intermediate district level, I had to go to Vapi, which was a 10 hour long chilling winter journey from Ahmedabad via a rickety State bus. Thereafter, I remember vanquishing all opponents from the neighboring states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, MP; having to play online in my school alone till six in the evening. In the said regard I cannot miss out my teacher Ms J Rao whose incessant support steered me through all odds.

The finals of the Chess Championship beckoned me in Chennai in December 2006 just prior to my class X boards which further escalated my hesitation to participate. Eventually I landed up in the Russian Center in Chennai, a familiar place of Vishy’s chess-childhood, where the Grandmaster obliged us (the national participants) with a simultaneous. Almost everyone close to Vishy was present – his wife Aruna, his mother and not to forget the big-wigs of NIIT headquarters. To be very honest, our game was more of a commercial endorsement with dozens odd paparazzi and flashes terrorizing the very tranquility for a chess game.

I can well recall Vishy walking up to me at the end of my game and telling me my flaws – his humbleness, his greatness, his versatility inspired greatly the little chess-player in me. Last but not the least the memories of receiving the prize from the world champion still exhilarates me, especially because he is again the New World Chess Champion.

GM - Grandmaster (in chess)