The Partisan by Patrick Worrall uses chess as a metaphor for politics. Two chess prodigies meet in the new debut thriller, and a deadly game ensues with the Cold War as its backdrop. Published in June this year, the book made it to The Guardian’s list of the best recent crime and thrillers.
Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s passion for chess has been well documented. According to his son Sandip Ray, his father used the game while storyboarding for his film Shatranj Ke Khilari ( The Chess Players). He read up voraciously on the game to research moves before he directed the movie. Based on Munshi Premchand’s short story, the movie is set on the eve of the Indian rebellion of 1857. A restored version of the film will be screened as part of the Venice Classics section, which returns to the fold of the Venice International Film Festival this year.
Chess has gone futuristic, but not without mishaps. A chess robot broke a child’s finger during a recent tournament in Moscow. “The child made a move, and after that it is necessary to give time for the robot to respond, but the boy hurried, the robot grabbed him. We have nothing to do with the robot,” said president of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev.
Last weekend, six players, all trained scuba divers, played chess underwater — on chessboards that weighed 10 kg — off the coast of Neelankarai, as part of the ongoing 44th Chess Olympiad. The team used heavy, specially designed, pieces.
Pudukkottai‘s district administration released a video, ‘Chaturangam — A Dance Depiction’, with Malyutham, Therukoothu and Silambam artistes, merging chess with Tamil folk and martial art forms. In the first four days, it clocked over 19k views.
All eyes are on world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. On International Chess Day (July 20), Carlsen announced that he will not defend his title (which he has held since 2013) next year because he is “not motivated to play another match”. He is now targeting a 2,900 rating in Chennai.
