13 ms·

An Indian village addicted to chess

309 points by sonabinu 9y ago

neduma 9y ago
>> Here 4,000 of the 6,000 population are playing chess, almost daily Really? I wish to go there for vacation. Great subject for Documentary. Anyone?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- baahh3333 9y ago
  A native of Kerala here. You are most welcome to my state. You might find more topics for your documentary here, for ex: The religious harmony of Kerala, while the other Indian states are still divided on castecism. The high HDI and literacy (almost 95%) of Kerala. Here is Kerala Government's tourism website for more information to plan your visit. https://www.keralatourism.org https://www.keralatourism.org You can get Visa on Arrival too https://www.keralatourism.org/visa-requirement.php https://www.keralatourism.org/visa-requirement.php If you find it hard to DIY. You can contact professional tour operators in Kerala to plan your vacation. PS: Kerala has very high literacy about 94.59. Most of Keralites can write/read/speak English. All the information signs/shops/hotels are in English & Malayalam. You will have no problem finding your way around and asking for directions even without a tour guide.
malikNF 9y ago
Was wondering where I had seen this before. Here's a history TV bit they did on this village. https://youtu.be/hK0_QfZyiWI?t=14m22s https://youtu.be/hK0_QfZyiWI?t=14m22s (from 14:22 - 18:25) its in Hindi, but there are English subtitles.
shas3 9y ago
Lovely piece! The addictive element of chess reminds me of Satyajit Ray's movie "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" (The Chess Players). The movie is set in the 19th century at the onset of British colonization of the Indian heartland. It is about two noblemen of the Indian province of Awadh who are addicted to chess to such an extent that they have become oblivious to the dramatic changes happening in their households, the province, and the region in general. There's also a decadent dance-obsessed Nawab (provincial ruler). All three elite aristocrats are consumed in their hobbies and addictions while the British are maneuvering to subjugate their province.
- HenryTheHorse 9y ago
  A brilliant film, on so many levels. A tip of the hat to writer Munshi Premchand, who wrote the short story which formed the basis of Ray's film.
- chanakya 9y ago
  That's a great summary. Wonderful movie at so many levels. History, nawab culture, decadence, cultural distance...
MichaelGG 9y ago
It'd be interesting to know what their rankings are. Is it just to pass the time at a weak level or do a lot of them become quite strong?
- S4M 9y ago
  There is one picture [0] where the board isn't set properly (the square at the the bottom right corner is black instead of white), so I suppose they some of them are not too strong. [0] http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/52/my/p052myzx.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/li...
  - XaspR8d 9y ago
    Or perhaps it doesn't matter to them? The orientation of the colors bears no effect on the play of the game. It might be confusing to people very used to the "traditional" rotation, but maybe breaking free of it is a good mental exercise? ;)
    - toolslive 9y ago
      It's not only the rotation of the board. Look where those bishops are placed. There's bishop on b1 with pawns on a2 and c2.
      - S4M 9y ago
        Maybe they are playing Fischer Random...
        toolslive 9y ago
        not that random considering the position of K & Q.
        Steko 9y ago
        Swap bishop and knight starting is a common displacement chess variant.
kadabra9 9y ago
I can relate to this. Chess is a beautiful game, but for certain people it isnt just addictive; its a complete escape, a way to tune out the world and just get lost in a game. I was going through some personal problems a year back and found myself constantly just staying up into the night, playing game after game of 5/0 or 3/2 blitz chess. I couldn't stop. It was therapeutic, but also a way of sort of avoiding the problems I had going in my life. I know it wasnt the best use of my time, but man it felt good to tune out for a while and in a weird way I think it helped me get through some of the problems I was facing.
- sharkweek 9y ago
  I'm sorry to hear about your going through troubles, but you're absolutely right about a good game of chess requiring such a high level of focus that it removes all distractions out out necessity to play well.
- jacobolus 9y ago
  If you can, try to find someone else willing to play with you in person when you get stuck like this. I’ve occasionally spent a few hours playing chess, or connect four, or table football, or some mindless card game with someone when one or both of us was going through a rough spot, and the combination of relatively automatic action plus occasional conversation with a human on the other side is very helpful.
- pm90 9y ago
  People have different coping mechanisms to difficult circumstances. I found that video games helped me a lot after a really brutal break up; to kinda escape into a different world with fixed rules and rewards. Its weird because I don't generally play a lot in normal situations, but this circumstance somehow made the prospect of playing video games all day very attractive.
- hwayern 9y ago
  There's something about needing to focus on a singular action that really helps you detach, I find. I don't think it's necessarily avoiding it - when you're detached and not thinking about it I think you give yourself space to reorient. Sometimes the world gets too noisy and you can't think straight. That said, I once tried to relax by playing a chess game and I almost punched something I was so frustrated with how quiet and slow the game was ;)
vagarwal 9y ago
No women in the photos?
- watwut 9y ago
  It is traditional village. Women don't count. (And likely don't play since women and men don't mix in traditional villages - each gender has own culture.) Though I guess more accurate title would be "half of an Indian village addicted to chess", it is not end of the world.
  - sonabinu 9y ago
    This is Kerala - women definitely have a major role and this is the best state in India for gender equality. Women even outnumber men in this state. This is also a state that historically had a matriarchal society.
    - bykovich2 9y ago
      I'd draw a distinction between matrilineality and matriarchy, I think.
  - baahh3333 9y ago
    When it comes to India, most people who have never traveled outside their own state in their countries are clouded by solipsism. They have this view that India is the same everywhere in terms of culture including the role of women. What you see in the media is mostly not the real India and is mostly stereotyped. > It is traditional village. Women don't count. Is an uneducated guess and that too especially in a highly literate state like Kerala. Maybe the below link can throw some light on the small state of Kerala and why is it very different than other states in India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model According to the 2011 census, Kerala's has overall 94.59 literacy. Females - 92.12, Males - 97.10. PS: I am a native of Kerala. If anyone is curious about Kerala and would like to visit Kerala which is called God's own country, you are welcome here and yes most of us can read/write/speak English. It includes the bus drivers, cab drivers, grocery store guy or those native villagers who plays chess. Kerala has the highest mobile phone density, the most internet users, excellent healthcare facilities, schools, Ayurvedic facilities, greenery, religious harmony. I can go on. Kerala Government's tourism site : https://www.keralatourism.org https://www.keralatourism.org
theprop 9y ago
Everything "bad" eventually becomes "good" for you. 150 years ago Scientific American bemoaned the "chess phenomenon" that was spreading quickly across the country. They wrote that chess was a trivial game that rotted the mind or something to that extent...
- RichardHeart 9y ago
  They had it right 150 years ago. Go play vs reality. If you must waste your time with chess, then chesstactics.org is cool.
- eth0up 9y ago
  Then there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_City ..which gets sort of interesting when considering the former Kalmykian president who was an avid supporter of the above, but claims to have been taken for a ride to another planet in an alien spaceship[1]. I strongly doubt chess rots the mind, but considering the above, my own eccentricities and past infatuation with chess, it may do queer things to it. I hope to meet Go playing aliens myself, and perhaps have a few games on a pulsar, with a bit of ergot, green tea, and scopolamine as needed. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsan_Ilyumzhinov#UFO_experience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsan_Ilyumzhinov#UFO_experie... edit: italics
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  I’m not sure we’re at the point where chess is universally “good”. That might have been the case in Soviet Russia, where chess was hugely pushed by the state, or America in those Cold War years where ordinary society saw it as a noble way beat those Soviets. Nowadays, however, chess is probably met more with indifference than anything else. One often hears complaints that it is a gimmick that merely shows that a person is capable of memorizing many, many thousands of positions, not that players are intelligent people in some other, more general respect (whatever “intelligent” might mean here). Furthermore, it is also understood now that unless you invest in a very large library of chess books and dedicate all your waking hours to memorization, you’ll never be able to play chess at a high level regardless of your passion for the game. Yes, people still play e.g. football among their mates even if they know they aren’t ever going to be pros, but chess competition used to have an aura of being open to any clever player who just used his thinker, and that has now been generally shattered. Plus, computers beat people now.
superasn 9y ago
How is it different from being addicted to a video game in an urban setting?
- gglitch 9y ago
  I don't know if you meant that rhetorically, but I think it's actually an interesting question. It'd be easy, but facile, to attach formal elegance and intellectuality to chess, but I'm sure there are equally elegant and intellectual video games. In the context of this particular article, the socialization on display feels qualitatively different and superior (to me), to what I associate with even relatively social videogames.
- Bakary 9y ago
  Chess players on a screen and over the Internet feels a lot like video game sessions (in fact it literally is a video game, just that it's usually not perceived that way). OVer the board chess in a social setting feels completely different though.
gerdesj 9y ago
Another BBC story on HN I can't read because I'm in the UK! Here's another source for bemused Brits: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/knight-exemplar-chess-saves-people-from-alcohol-in-a-village-in-kerala/article17408584.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/knight-exemplar...
- deepuj 9y ago
  Is BBC behind a paywall in the UK?
  - martinald 9y ago
    Some stuff isn't available in the UK. It's not even a paywall. It's pretty silly.
  - macintux 9y ago
    IIRC, because they receive funding from taxes they're constrained on what they can post for UK consumption.
  - phillc73 9y ago
    bbc.com is specifically for international audiences, whereas bbc.co.uk is for the UK audience. bbc.com is blocked within the UK because it is funded differently. "We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC..."
  - manarth 9y ago
    The message they display says: We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. The rationale is explained in a little more detail in a BBC FAQ [1]. BBC Worldwide is a commercial entity, but the BBC's fair trading rules prevents them from promoting a commercial entity to UK licence payers. The somewhat odd outcome is that BBC content is unavailable to people in the UK. [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/online/website_changes http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/online/website_changes
georgecmu 9y ago
Based on the photos, it looks like they are playing some local variant of chess rather than the conventional game: - the board is turned 90 degrees, so the white king is to the left of the queen; - initial positions of knights and bishops are swapped. Are there multiple different versions of chess played in India?
- kcanini 9y ago
  Of the 7 photos, I only see one where the board is rotated, and only one where the bishops and knights definitely seem to have been switched.
- mavelikara 9y ago
  I am from Kerala and have not heard of any other variants. This probably was a mistake.
- JauntyHatAngle 9y ago
  Variants of chess are common everywhere, I'd hazard a guess to say that people who play chess all the time are more likely to start mixing it up to add a bit of spice to the game. Chess 960 is a good example of the backline swapping around.
  - xoroshiro 9y ago
    >Variants of chess are common everywhere Damn true. I can still remember my high school chess coaches getting mad at us for playing bughouse, saying it ruins our ordinary playing. I never believed it would, and it was quite fun, but then again, practice time is for practice time.
baahh3333 9y ago
This is from the highest literate state in India. No wonder here. When I was a kid, I used to see all the Autorickshaw drivers assemble under a tree playing chess and drinking tea while waiting for their next trip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranking_by_literacy_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranking_by_liter...
ekm2 9y ago
Chess is so addictive it made me drop out of CS grad school.I would compete online every day from 10 pm to 3 am.That is not a good schedule if you want to make it to an 8 a.m class.
- bykovich2 9y ago
  Out of curiosity, did you find that the draw of chess changed at all after you left your program?
  - ekm2 9y ago
    Not really.But I moderate now that I know how it can affect other things.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  I used to be like that about chess. Then one day it dawned on me that life was moving by while I was looking at chess boards and dreaming about chess. I quit realizing it was just another addiction. I play every now and then (very rarely, average < 2 games / year) and usually lose but have fun. But at the back of my mind I can immediately feel that obsession start up. My next door neighbor of the time went on to having an ELO rating well in excess of 2400, back then he was already fearsome and part of the draw was to play against him and watch my own game improve as if by magic.
thomk 9y ago
Hi, this is a very culturally insensitive and ignorant question but I am very curious: Why do adult Indian people, in India, sit on the ground or floor? It must be a cultural thing, that can't be comfortable or (dare I say it) clean.
- devnonymous 9y ago
  Well it is culturally ignorant tho I won't call it insensitive. Why do they do it? Because they can :-) Is it comfortable? Sure it is, if you've been used to sitting that way for most of your life. Is it clean? No more cleaner than riding the subway in a major metro or sitting at a park bench or some such. You do notice that they have a rug or some such on which they squat and even if they don't, people tend to keep the areas where they sit relatively clean. You have to understand that irrespective of where people come from there always is a personal sense of hygiene, it may vary from person to person but by and large there is not a glaringly large variance in what is considered clean by most humans. Btw, kids in India and Indian adults out of India have also been known to enjoy sitting on the floor :-)
- dheelus 9y ago
  Not just adults, but children sit on the floor as well. Anyways, yes, it is a cultural thing. If you do it all the time, it is comfortable enough. What Westerner's perceive as uncomfortable is not uncomfortable at all. Don't forget that Western style toilets are also a relatively new thing, so sitting Western style is actually less common (but is now common in post modern India). Also, Indians are generally very fastidious and clean. Paradoxically, India itself is quite dirty since the concept of cleanliness in India is usually limited to one's immediate habitat. Sweeping, dusting and mopping is a daily chore in Indian homes unlike the West. The images in this particular article do not portray a very clean environment though, I'll grant you that.
- navalsaini 9y ago
  Its actually more comfortable is you ask me. More space to wriggle and more sitting postures.
- mavelikara 9y ago
cubano 9y ago
I have a deep affinity for chess for economic reasons. In 2002 when I went to prison in Florida for 22 months, playing chess for $1/game was my "hustle", and it allowed me to eat really well at a panhandle camp that was well known for its terrible chow. Also, a rather odd but very beneficial side effect of my play came into focus...my chess ability seemed to convey a certain status to me by old timers on the yard, and assigned to me a certain "respect" level that basically kept me rather safe during my entire stay. I'll admit...I wasn't always totally virtuous while hustling. I often lost to players in the beginning as to set the hook for future games and profitability. The most interesting part is that, in reality, I kinda suck at chess in the real world by my own demanding standards.
- bbcbasic 9y ago
  This is interesting. As clever geeks we are sort of protected form the 'big bad world' by living in expenses cities and suburbs, working with other geeks and getting paid well. In prison I guess that counts for nothing. Except you made it count for something and created the same situation for yourself 'from the bootstraps'. I am not going to pretend I know anything about what prison is like though.
  - cubano 9y ago
    You should remember that prison is way different then jail. In prison, you have people totally isolated from society, many for a long damn time, and some are actually interested in doing things that improve their lives and of course pass the time. Becoming the best chess player, or the best basketballer, or whatever, on the "yard" is something to aspire to, and if you have something of value to offer these convicts that helps them achieve these goals, they will respect that and pretty much leave you alone since you are helping them. This is how my chess playing helps me...it makes them better. The only way to get better in chess is to either study hard via puzzles and books (boring) or play someone better then you (fun). But the same thing happens in the law libraries or even the computer labs...in the music rooms and on the football fields. Talent is always recognized and smarts are in short supply in general. Not much different from the tech world huh?
rdtsc 9y ago
In the Soviet Union they used to show chess on TV and people would watch it like people football here in US for example. I remember watching it with dad and it was good fun.. We'd also play chess at home in the evenings. I am still terrible at it though.
Taylor_OD 9y ago
Somewhat unrelated but does anyone know of a good android chess app that also teaches basic strategy?
spyckie2 9y ago
If you're interested in (read: addicted to and love all things) chess, one of my favorite places to learn is chessnetwork on youtube. He is a lot of fun to watch especially playing bullet, does great commentary of professional games, and always reviews his games afterwards for learning.
lingben 9y ago
I find these social memes fascinating. I wonder if any sociologist has made a serious study of how they start and spread. There is another town in India dedicated to weightlifting and working as bouncers: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/30/world/asia/india-muscle-village/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/30/world/asia/india-muscle-villag...
- Aspos 9y ago
  Given number of villages in India, I guess you can find one addicted to ... virtually anything. Almost sure I have seen a village addicted to JavaScript.
  - xapata 9y ago
    I think I read about that in Hitchhiker's Guide -- there must be a village out there that grows sentient mattresses.
slyrus 9y ago
I read that as addicted to "cheese" and was rather surprised by that.
libeclipse 9y ago
This webpage isn't accessible from within the UK. That's absurd.
wetha 9y ago
Here's an interesting trip down the rabbit hole - Kerala, the state mentioned in the article, is surprisingly distinct from the rest of India. It has some of the highest literacy rates in India (something like 92%) and an HDI comparable to developed countries[1]. Historically, Kerala had trade relations with the levant, and Rome from antiquity, and has hosted a large jewish diaspora[2]. Kerala has also had its share of christian "immigrants", starting with the story of St.Thomas, to traditions about Syrian Christians settling in Kerala during the 4th century AD. [3] Plus, the traditional christian church in Kerala is the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church [4], with its official language of liturgy being Syriac (a derivative of Aramaic). Similarly, there is a very ancient muslim tradition in Kerala [5], including the very first mosque in India. Kerala is also famous for a lot of its contribution to Hindu thought [6], while some traditions are markedly different from the rests of India[7]. Kerala also has its own martial art, which arguably predates the more famous chinese martial arts. [8] Finally, IIRC, Kerala was never completely under British rule, but I'm not completely sure on this point. All in all, a very fascinating place. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_of_Cana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_of_Cana [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malankara_Jacobite_Syrian_Orthodox_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malankara_Jacobite_Syrian_Orth... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kerala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kerala [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Kerala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Kerala [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayattu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayattu
- kranner 9y ago
  Allow me to balance the narrative here: http://www.dailyo.in/variety/kerala-dogs-stray-animal-abuse-mass-culling-killing-cruelty-maneka-gandhi/story/1/13757.html http://www.dailyo.in/variety/kerala-dogs-stray-animal-abuse-...
  - someonenice 9y ago
    Allow me to balance it here. Stray dog is a big issue in Kerala. Daily you read about an attack where a person is attacked brutally by stray dogs. And peak summer time is when they also carry rabies virus too. Most of the places kids are not allowed to play outside for fear of dog attack. With little support from the government, people are left with no other option than to kill them. Not sure why western media is so concerned about the life of a dog than a life of Chicken or goat or cow that are regularly killed. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/85-yr-old-mauled-to-death-by-dogs-in-kerala/story-tbEV9Rks2Mc9jtzmi5nlPK.html http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/85-yr-old-mauled-to... http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/stray-dog-attacks-kid-drags-him-out-of-house-chavara-kollam-1.1740327 http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/stray-dog-attacks...
BJanecke 9y ago
Somehow this immediately made me think of Player Of Games by Ian Banks
DarkandNative 9y ago
Could someone host this article on a platform that UK residents can access? I really want to read this, but the BBC UK doesn't let us see this!
- DarkandNative 9y ago
  BBC Worldwide (International Site) We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com.
- jwilk 9y ago
  https://archive.fo/GfdgF https://archive.fo/GfdgF
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cja 9y ago
I am in the UK and therefore am not allowed to read the article.

309 points by sonabinu 9y ago

>> Here 4,000 of the 6,000 population are playing chess, almost daily Really? I wish to go there for vacation. Great subject for Documentary. Anyone?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
baahh3333 9y ago
A native of Kerala here. You are most welcome to my state. You might find more topics for your documentary here, for ex: The religious harmony of Kerala, while the other Indian states are still divided on castecism. The high HDI and literacy (almost 95%) of Kerala. Here is Kerala Government's tourism website for more information to plan your visit. https://www.keralatourism.org https://www.keralatourism.org You can get Visa on Arrival too https://www.keralatourism.org/visa-requirement.php https://www.keralatourism.org/visa-requirement.php If you find it hard to DIY. You can contact professional tour operators in Kerala to plan your vacation. PS: Kerala has very high literacy about 94.59. Most of Keralites can write/read/speak English. All the information signs/shops/hotels are in English & Malayalam. You will have no problem finding your way around and asking for directions even without a tour guide.

malikNF 9y ago

Was wondering where I had seen this before. Here's a history TV bit they did on this village. https://youtu.be/hK0_QfZyiWI?t=14m22s https://youtu.be/hK0_QfZyiWI?t=14m22s (from 14:22 - 18:25) its in Hindi, but there are English subtitles.

shas3 9y ago

Lovely piece! The addictive element of chess reminds me of Satyajit Ray's movie "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" (The Chess Players). The movie is set in the 19th century at the onset of British colonization of the Indian heartland. It is about two noblemen of the Indian province of Awadh who are addicted to chess to such an extent that they have become oblivious to the dramatic changes happening in their households, the province, and the region in general. There's also a decadent dance-obsessed Nawab (provincial ruler). All three elite aristocrats are consumed in their hobbies and addictions while the British are maneuvering to subjugate their province.

HenryTheHorse 9y ago
A brilliant film, on so many levels. A tip of the hat to writer Munshi Premchand, who wrote the short story which formed the basis of Ray's film.
chanakya 9y ago
That's a great summary. Wonderful movie at so many levels. History, nawab culture, decadence, cultural distance...

MichaelGG 9y ago

It'd be interesting to know what their rankings are. Is it just to pass the time at a weak level or do a lot of them become quite strong?

S4M 9y ago
There is one picture [0] where the board isn't set properly (the square at the the bottom right corner is black instead of white), so I suppose they some of them are not too strong. [0] http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/52/my/p052myzx.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/li...
- XaspR8d 9y ago
  Or perhaps it doesn't matter to them? The orientation of the colors bears no effect on the play of the game. It might be confusing to people very used to the "traditional" rotation, but maybe breaking free of it is a good mental exercise? ;)
  - toolslive 9y ago
    It's not only the rotation of the board. Look where those bishops are placed. There's bishop on b1 with pawns on a2 and c2.
    - S4M 9y ago
      Maybe they are playing Fischer Random...
      - toolslive 9y ago
        not that random considering the position of K & Q.
        Steko 9y ago
        Swap bishop and knight starting is a common displacement chess variant.

kadabra9 9y ago

I can relate to this. Chess is a beautiful game, but for certain people it isnt just addictive; its a complete escape, a way to tune out the world and just get lost in a game. I was going through some personal problems a year back and found myself constantly just staying up into the night, playing game after game of 5/0 or 3/2 blitz chess. I couldn't stop. It was therapeutic, but also a way of sort of avoiding the problems I had going in my life. I know it wasnt the best use of my time, but man it felt good to tune out for a while and in a weird way I think it helped me get through some of the problems I was facing.

sharkweek 9y ago
I'm sorry to hear about your going through troubles, but you're absolutely right about a good game of chess requiring such a high level of focus that it removes all distractions out out necessity to play well.
jacobolus 9y ago
If you can, try to find someone else willing to play with you in person when you get stuck like this. I’ve occasionally spent a few hours playing chess, or connect four, or table football, or some mindless card game with someone when one or both of us was going through a rough spot, and the combination of relatively automatic action plus occasional conversation with a human on the other side is very helpful.
pm90 9y ago
People have different coping mechanisms to difficult circumstances. I found that video games helped me a lot after a really brutal break up; to kinda escape into a different world with fixed rules and rewards. Its weird because I don't generally play a lot in normal situations, but this circumstance somehow made the prospect of playing video games all day very attractive.
hwayern 9y ago
There's something about needing to focus on a singular action that really helps you detach, I find. I don't think it's necessarily avoiding it - when you're detached and not thinking about it I think you give yourself space to reorient. Sometimes the world gets too noisy and you can't think straight. That said, I once tried to relax by playing a chess game and I almost punched something I was so frustrated with how quiet and slow the game was ;)

vagarwal 9y ago

No women in the photos?

watwut 9y ago
It is traditional village. Women don't count. (And likely don't play since women and men don't mix in traditional villages - each gender has own culture.) Though I guess more accurate title would be "half of an Indian village addicted to chess", it is not end of the world.
- sonabinu 9y ago
  This is Kerala - women definitely have a major role and this is the best state in India for gender equality. Women even outnumber men in this state. This is also a state that historically had a matriarchal society.
  - bykovich2 9y ago
    I'd draw a distinction between matrilineality and matriarchy, I think.
- baahh3333 9y ago
  When it comes to India, most people who have never traveled outside their own state in their countries are clouded by solipsism. They have this view that India is the same everywhere in terms of culture including the role of women. What you see in the media is mostly not the real India and is mostly stereotyped. > It is traditional village. Women don't count. Is an uneducated guess and that too especially in a highly literate state like Kerala. Maybe the below link can throw some light on the small state of Kerala and why is it very different than other states in India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model According to the 2011 census, Kerala's has overall 94.59 literacy. Females - 92.12, Males - 97.10. PS: I am a native of Kerala. If anyone is curious about Kerala and would like to visit Kerala which is called God's own country, you are welcome here and yes most of us can read/write/speak English. It includes the bus drivers, cab drivers, grocery store guy or those native villagers who plays chess. Kerala has the highest mobile phone density, the most internet users, excellent healthcare facilities, schools, Ayurvedic facilities, greenery, religious harmony. I can go on. Kerala Government's tourism site : https://www.keralatourism.org https://www.keralatourism.org

theprop 9y ago

Everything "bad" eventually becomes "good" for you. 150 years ago Scientific American bemoaned the "chess phenomenon" that was spreading quickly across the country. They wrote that chess was a trivial game that rotted the mind or something to that extent...

RichardHeart 9y ago
They had it right 150 years ago. Go play vs reality. If you must waste your time with chess, then chesstactics.org is cool.
eth0up 9y ago
Then there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_City ..which gets sort of interesting when considering the former Kalmykian president who was an avid supporter of the above, but claims to have been taken for a ride to another planet in an alien spaceship[1]. I strongly doubt chess rots the mind, but considering the above, my own eccentricities and past infatuation with chess, it may do queer things to it. I hope to meet Go playing aliens myself, and perhaps have a few games on a pulsar, with a bit of ergot, green tea, and scopolamine as needed. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsan_Ilyumzhinov#UFO_experience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsan_Ilyumzhinov#UFO_experie... edit: italics
Mediterraneo10 9y ago
I’m not sure we’re at the point where chess is universally “good”. That might have been the case in Soviet Russia, where chess was hugely pushed by the state, or America in those Cold War years where ordinary society saw it as a noble way beat those Soviets. Nowadays, however, chess is probably met more with indifference than anything else. One often hears complaints that it is a gimmick that merely shows that a person is capable of memorizing many, many thousands of positions, not that players are intelligent people in some other, more general respect (whatever “intelligent” might mean here). Furthermore, it is also understood now that unless you invest in a very large library of chess books and dedicate all your waking hours to memorization, you’ll never be able to play chess at a high level regardless of your passion for the game. Yes, people still play e.g. football among their mates even if they know they aren’t ever going to be pros, but chess competition used to have an aura of being open to any clever player who just used his thinker, and that has now been generally shattered. Plus, computers beat people now.

superasn 9y ago

How is it different from being addicted to a video game in an urban setting?

gglitch 9y ago
I don't know if you meant that rhetorically, but I think it's actually an interesting question. It'd be easy, but facile, to attach formal elegance and intellectuality to chess, but I'm sure there are equally elegant and intellectual video games. In the context of this particular article, the socialization on display feels qualitatively different and superior (to me), to what I associate with even relatively social videogames.
Bakary 9y ago
Chess players on a screen and over the Internet feels a lot like video game sessions (in fact it literally is a video game, just that it's usually not perceived that way). OVer the board chess in a social setting feels completely different though.

gerdesj 9y ago

Another BBC story on HN I can't read because I'm in the UK! Here's another source for bemused Brits: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/knight-exemplar-chess-saves-people-from-alcohol-in-a-village-in-kerala/article17408584.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/knight-exemplar...

deepuj 9y ago
Is BBC behind a paywall in the UK?
- martinald 9y ago
  Some stuff isn't available in the UK. It's not even a paywall. It's pretty silly.
- macintux 9y ago
  IIRC, because they receive funding from taxes they're constrained on what they can post for UK consumption.
- phillc73 9y ago
  bbc.com is specifically for international audiences, whereas bbc.co.uk is for the UK audience. bbc.com is blocked within the UK because it is funded differently. "We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC..."
- manarth 9y ago
  The message they display says: We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. The rationale is explained in a little more detail in a BBC FAQ [1]. BBC Worldwide is a commercial entity, but the BBC's fair trading rules prevents them from promoting a commercial entity to UK licence payers. The somewhat odd outcome is that BBC content is unavailable to people in the UK. [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/online/website_changes http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/online/website_changes

georgecmu 9y ago

Based on the photos, it looks like they are playing some local variant of chess rather than the conventional game: - the board is turned 90 degrees, so the white king is to the left of the queen; - initial positions of knights and bishops are swapped. Are there multiple different versions of chess played in India?

kcanini 9y ago
Of the 7 photos, I only see one where the board is rotated, and only one where the bishops and knights definitely seem to have been switched.
mavelikara 9y ago
I am from Kerala and have not heard of any other variants. This probably was a mistake.
JauntyHatAngle 9y ago
Variants of chess are common everywhere, I'd hazard a guess to say that people who play chess all the time are more likely to start mixing it up to add a bit of spice to the game. Chess 960 is a good example of the backline swapping around.
- xoroshiro 9y ago
  >Variants of chess are common everywhere Damn true. I can still remember my high school chess coaches getting mad at us for playing bughouse, saying it ruins our ordinary playing. I never believed it would, and it was quite fun, but then again, practice time is for practice time.

baahh3333 9y ago

This is from the highest literate state in India. No wonder here. When I was a kid, I used to see all the Autorickshaw drivers assemble under a tree playing chess and drinking tea while waiting for their next trip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranking_by_literacy_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranking_by_liter...

ekm2 9y ago

Chess is so addictive it made me drop out of CS grad school.I would compete online every day from 10 pm to 3 am.That is not a good schedule if you want to make it to an 8 a.m class.

bykovich2 9y ago
Out of curiosity, did you find that the draw of chess changed at all after you left your program?
- ekm2 9y ago
  Not really.But I moderate now that I know how it can affect other things.
jacquesm 9y ago
I used to be like that about chess. Then one day it dawned on me that life was moving by while I was looking at chess boards and dreaming about chess. I quit realizing it was just another addiction. I play every now and then (very rarely, average < 2 games / year) and usually lose but have fun. But at the back of my mind I can immediately feel that obsession start up. My next door neighbor of the time went on to having an ELO rating well in excess of 2400, back then he was already fearsome and part of the draw was to play against him and watch my own game improve as if by magic.

thomk 9y ago

Hi, this is a very culturally insensitive and ignorant question but I am very curious: Why do adult Indian people, in India, sit on the ground or floor? It must be a cultural thing, that can't be comfortable or (dare I say it) clean.

devnonymous 9y ago
Well it is culturally ignorant tho I won't call it insensitive. Why do they do it? Because they can :-) Is it comfortable? Sure it is, if you've been used to sitting that way for most of your life. Is it clean? No more cleaner than riding the subway in a major metro or sitting at a park bench or some such. You do notice that they have a rug or some such on which they squat and even if they don't, people tend to keep the areas where they sit relatively clean. You have to understand that irrespective of where people come from there always is a personal sense of hygiene, it may vary from person to person but by and large there is not a glaringly large variance in what is considered clean by most humans. Btw, kids in India and Indian adults out of India have also been known to enjoy sitting on the floor :-)
dheelus 9y ago
Not just adults, but children sit on the floor as well. Anyways, yes, it is a cultural thing. If you do it all the time, it is comfortable enough. What Westerner's perceive as uncomfortable is not uncomfortable at all. Don't forget that Western style toilets are also a relatively new thing, so sitting Western style is actually less common (but is now common in post modern India). Also, Indians are generally very fastidious and clean. Paradoxically, India itself is quite dirty since the concept of cleanliness in India is usually limited to one's immediate habitat. Sweeping, dusting and mopping is a daily chore in Indian homes unlike the West. The images in this particular article do not portray a very clean environment though, I'll grant you that.
navalsaini 9y ago
Its actually more comfortable is you ask me. More space to wriggle and more sitting postures.
mavelikara 9y ago

cubano 9y ago

I have a deep affinity for chess for economic reasons. In 2002 when I went to prison in Florida for 22 months, playing chess for $1/game was my "hustle", and it allowed me to eat really well at a panhandle camp that was well known for its terrible chow. Also, a rather odd but very beneficial side effect of my play came into focus...my chess ability seemed to convey a certain status to me by old timers on the yard, and assigned to me a certain "respect" level that basically kept me rather safe during my entire stay. I'll admit...I wasn't always totally virtuous while hustling. I often lost to players in the beginning as to set the hook for future games and profitability. The most interesting part is that, in reality, I kinda suck at chess in the real world by my own demanding standards.

bbcbasic 9y ago
This is interesting. As clever geeks we are sort of protected form the 'big bad world' by living in expenses cities and suburbs, working with other geeks and getting paid well. In prison I guess that counts for nothing. Except you made it count for something and created the same situation for yourself 'from the bootstraps'. I am not going to pretend I know anything about what prison is like though.
- cubano 9y ago
  You should remember that prison is way different then jail. In prison, you have people totally isolated from society, many for a long damn time, and some are actually interested in doing things that improve their lives and of course pass the time. Becoming the best chess player, or the best basketballer, or whatever, on the "yard" is something to aspire to, and if you have something of value to offer these convicts that helps them achieve these goals, they will respect that and pretty much leave you alone since you are helping them. This is how my chess playing helps me...it makes them better. The only way to get better in chess is to either study hard via puzzles and books (boring) or play someone better then you (fun). But the same thing happens in the law libraries or even the computer labs...in the music rooms and on the football fields. Talent is always recognized and smarts are in short supply in general. Not much different from the tech world huh?

rdtsc 9y ago

In the Soviet Union they used to show chess on TV and people would watch it like people football here in US for example. I remember watching it with dad and it was good fun.. We'd also play chess at home in the evenings. I am still terrible at it though.

Taylor_OD 9y ago

Somewhat unrelated but does anyone know of a good android chess app that also teaches basic strategy?

spyckie2 9y ago

If you're interested in (read: addicted to and love all things) chess, one of my favorite places to learn is chessnetwork on youtube. He is a lot of fun to watch especially playing bullet, does great commentary of professional games, and always reviews his games afterwards for learning.

lingben 9y ago

I find these social memes fascinating. I wonder if any sociologist has made a serious study of how they start and spread. There is another town in India dedicated to weightlifting and working as bouncers: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/30/world/asia/india-muscle-village/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/30/world/asia/india-muscle-villag...

Aspos 9y ago
Given number of villages in India, I guess you can find one addicted to ... virtually anything. Almost sure I have seen a village addicted to JavaScript.
- xapata 9y ago
  I think I read about that in Hitchhiker's Guide -- there must be a village out there that grows sentient mattresses.

slyrus 9y ago

I read that as addicted to "cheese" and was rather surprised by that.

libeclipse 9y ago

This webpage isn't accessible from within the UK. That's absurd.

wetha 9y ago

Here's an interesting trip down the rabbit hole - Kerala, the state mentioned in the article, is surprisingly distinct from the rest of India. It has some of the highest literacy rates in India (something like 92%) and an HDI comparable to developed countries[1]. Historically, Kerala had trade relations with the levant, and Rome from antiquity, and has hosted a large jewish diaspora[2]. Kerala has also had its share of christian "immigrants", starting with the story of St.Thomas, to traditions about Syrian Christians settling in Kerala during the 4th century AD. [3] Plus, the traditional christian church in Kerala is the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church [4], with its official language of liturgy being Syriac (a derivative of Aramaic). Similarly, there is a very ancient muslim tradition in Kerala [5], including the very first mosque in India. Kerala is also famous for a lot of its contribution to Hindu thought [6], while some traditions are markedly different from the rests of India[7]. Kerala also has its own martial art, which arguably predates the more famous chinese martial arts. [8] Finally, IIRC, Kerala was never completely under British rule, but I'm not completely sure on this point. All in all, a very fascinating place. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_of_Cana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_of_Cana [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malankara_Jacobite_Syrian_Orthodox_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malankara_Jacobite_Syrian_Orth... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kerala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Kerala [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Kerala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Kerala [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayattu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayattu

kranner 9y ago
Allow me to balance the narrative here: http://www.dailyo.in/variety/kerala-dogs-stray-animal-abuse-mass-culling-killing-cruelty-maneka-gandhi/story/1/13757.html http://www.dailyo.in/variety/kerala-dogs-stray-animal-abuse-...
- someonenice 9y ago
  Allow me to balance it here. Stray dog is a big issue in Kerala. Daily you read about an attack where a person is attacked brutally by stray dogs. And peak summer time is when they also carry rabies virus too. Most of the places kids are not allowed to play outside for fear of dog attack. With little support from the government, people are left with no other option than to kill them. Not sure why western media is so concerned about the life of a dog than a life of Chicken or goat or cow that are regularly killed. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/85-yr-old-mauled-to-death-by-dogs-in-kerala/story-tbEV9Rks2Mc9jtzmi5nlPK.html http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/85-yr-old-mauled-to... http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/stray-dog-attacks-kid-drags-him-out-of-house-chavara-kollam-1.1740327 http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/stray-dog-attacks...

BJanecke 9y ago

Somehow this immediately made me think of Player Of Games by Ian Banks

DarkandNative 9y ago

Could someone host this article on a platform that UK residents can access? I really want to read this, but the BBC UK doesn't let us see this!

DarkandNative 9y ago
BBC Worldwide (International Site) We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com.
jwilk 9y ago
https://archive.fo/GfdgF https://archive.fo/GfdgF

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

cja 9y ago

I am in the UK and therefore am not allowed to read the article.