Melodies in and out of the 64 squares ~ Malinda Words

A submission by Zaara Zayan

‘Victory will come like an exquisite combination shattering the chess squares with its poetry.’

A combination, in chess, is a sequence of moves which includes capture and/or exchange of pieces and/or pawns. A well thought out and precisely executed combination would lead to an overwhelming positional or material advantage or even checkmate. Sometimes tournament organizers offer what are called ‘brilliancy prizes’ and they usually go to a player who has played such a sequence, especially with subtlety and finesse complementing the inexorability of the overall attack.

Chess enthusiasts would call it art. Indeed anyone who looks for and recognizes potential for incredible coordination of hand, eye and mind in and among players (if it’s a team sport) would say that the particular sport is an art form.

The winning submission

Murali’s work with the ball, for example, is like a detective novel for the relentless probing that is often necessary in order to ‘get his man.’

Akila Kavinda

There’s art in the footwork of Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho or simply Ronaldinho, the incredible Brazilian soccer player. It is a dance, one can argue. A penetrative centre in a rugby team, the court-vision of LeBron James, the finesse of Roger Federer at the height of his tennis career are examples that come to mind. There’s a novel, a melody, a ballerina frozen in ‘Falling Water,’ the beautiful house in Southwestern Pennsylvania that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Liliane and Edgar J Kaufmann. There’s art all around us.

In these times of ‘house-arrest’ courtesy Covid-19, thanks largely to technological advances and of course the nature of the game, chess players (unlike cricketers, for instance) are not starved of competition. They can play countless games online and even the occasional tournament. In Sri Lanka, for example, various clubs and groups of players have arranged and held several such competitions.

It keeps people in touch with the game and with each other. Keeps intact their competitive spirit. Keeps the artist in them alive for chess is a dance, it is poetry, architecture, sculpture and, at least a few would swear, it is music as well.

Chess players rarely need to seek ‘art’ outside the 64 squares; you name the art form and you’ll find the requisite material right in front of you. If you have the imagination of course, and that’s something that most if not all chess players are endowed with.

But just the other day, against the run of play so to speak, Akila Kavinda, one of the strongest chess players in the country who has represented Sri Lanka in numerous tournaments and in my opinion one of the best coaches too, went outside the 64 squares looking for art. Put another way, he brought a different kind of art to chess. Simply, he organized an art competition!

It was open to all chess players. There had been some 30 entries. Lakshitha Randil, another strong player and also a very good coach offered a prize: ‘Fabiano Caruana: His amazing story and most instructive chess games,’ by Aleksandr Kalinin. Zaara Zayan, a 16 year old schoolgirl, was adjudged the winner. All participants received modest prizes. Nice gesture.

Akila posted the artwork of the competitors on Facebook with a simple note, ‘Thank you very much for adding your colors to enrich our competition.’ He added a wish: ‘…..a great and wonderful chess journey.’

The little competition organized by Akila and Lakshitha left me wondering about chess, art, teaching, learning and humanity. Maybe all of it is art. Maybe it’s all chess. It is an exquisite combination that meandered in and out of the 64 squares like a verse moving in and out of mind until finally checkmating me on an unnamed square in my heart.

Other articles in the series 'In Passing...': [published in the 'Daily News']

Let's raise an army of rain-makers

Happy birthday Raj Amirthiah