The Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg (Russia) is the only world-class sports competition that remains in dispute (until April 4). There are very reasonable reasons – with important nuances – to believe that it should have been postponed. But it is also hopeful and symbolic that eight stars of the mental sport par excellence are still at the foot of the canyon. And even more so if this situation is viewed from Spain, a world leader in educational, social and therapeutic applications of the game that teaches thinking.
Bill Gates has been warning for five years that a virus can be more harmful than a war. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, insisted on this a year ago. But in Italy and Spain we have not been able to see that the tragedy that had paralyzed China, where one in five human beings lives, was going to attack us sooner rather than later. Only a small minority of Spaniards foresaw the enormous risk of the feminist demonstrations of 8-M, or that of Vox. In this context, it is better understood that the International Chess Federation (FIDE) decided at the beginning of the month that the Candidates Tournament was not postponed, although it may seem irresponsible with the information we have now.
When Spain declared the state of alarm, on March 14, the eight participants in the Candidates Tournament were already in Yekaterinburg, 1,500 kilometers from Moscow, at the gates of Siberia and the Urals. It is a city of 1.4 million inhabitants where at the moment there are only two diagnosed cases of COVID-19, according to official statistics. The Government of Russia then canceled all international sports competitions except the Candidates Tournament. But he imposed great restrictions: no more than 50 people (players, referees, technicians, journalists, managers, etc.) at the venue, without an audience, which is in the same hotel that houses the players, with a dining room just for them; journalists are not allowed to enter the playing hall or press conferences. The only non-Russian who managed to arrive is the one who writes this, but with bad luck: Spain was included in the black list of countries while he was flying, and therefore went from the airport to the quarantine in the hotel room, from which he hopes to get rid on Tuesday, if the second test is also negative.
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As was to be expected with so many people confined at home, the audiences of the portals that broadcast the games live over the internet have skyrocketed. And here’s the bright side of FIDE’s risky decision. Encouraging a game that teaches thinking can be one of the counterweights to alleviate the tendency to idiotic. More and more people think less for various reasons: a very fast-paced world, the misuse of social networks, trash TV, the increase in inequality in many countries … And perhaps one day sociologists will show that this dangerous trend explains why how millions of people have democratically elected – and, in some cases, re-elected – as presidents of governments people who are not qualified to assume those responsibilities, even in countries of enormous importance.
Spain will connect its image with intelligence through chess at the Dubai World Expo, whose inauguration is scheduled for October 20, and in previous actions; among them, a world school online tournament that has already been called. Such a decision is supported by history and today. The Arabs brought chess in the 9th century. Alfonso X promoted it as a tool for good coexistence between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the 13th century. It was in Spain -probably in Valencia- where modern chess was born at the end of the 15th century, with the queen (absent in Arabic) as the most powerful piece; and the Spanish exported it to much of America and Europe. Since 1988, Spain has been the country that organizes the most international tournaments every year. Ten of the 17 autonomous communities have already introduced it as an educational tool during school hours, following the recommendations of the European Parliament (2012) and the Congress of Deputies (unanimously, 2015). And there are solid experiences, as well as scientific studies, on its great utility as a gym of the mind to slow brain aging and Alzheimer’s, and also with special people: blindness and other disabilities, autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, serious mental disorders , rehabilitation of drug addicts, prisoners, unemployed, homeless, etc., as reflected in a great report by EL PAÍS SEMANAL on June 16, 2019.
Chess has been in this newspaper every day since its appearance on May 4, 1976; with a daily column and news reports when it only existed on paper; and with videos, blog and much more space since the digital edition exists. That 44-year-old bet and everything explained in this article prompted me to come to Yekaterinburg despite everything, to relate how eight gladiators of the mind continue to fight under the threat of the coronavirus.
In addition to working as a journalist for EL PAÍS, Leontxo García is a FIDE educational chess advisor and commissioner of Spain at the Dubai World Expo 2020
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