CHESS BY VICTOR STRUGO

The surge in popularity of chess since the 2020 lockdown was understandable because of the game’s ability to transcend separation in the digital age. Netflix jumped onto this bandwagon with the visually sumptuous Queen’s Gambit series. But they got the chess itself appallingly wrong, giving the impression that one can conquer the world with a bit of coaching from a sweet old janitor, handfuls of benzodiazepines, nocturnal ceiling hallucinations and playing only the Sicilian Defence. Arrant bosh, but hey, that’s showbiz. So what, really, is an IGM? It’s earned by topping an Elo rating of 2500 and scoring the required “GM norm” (the predicted number of points that a 2500-rated player would score against rated competitors of at least 3 nationalities) in 3 events over at least 27 games.

Innate talent alone doesn’t get you there without an colossal effort, strong nerves and the determination to overcome setbacks. In world of almost 8 billion, barely 1,960 IGM titles had been conferred, of which 39 went to women, 3 were revoked for cheating and 225 are no longer alive. The first 27 titles were awarded in 1950. This increased to 104 IGMs by 1970, 819 by 2000 and a further 1,136 IGMs by the end of 2021. The game’s surge in popularity has arguably seen a parallel degree of title devaluation as there are certainly are a lot of “weak” IGMs now, but the top strata are phenomenally strong.

And the geographic spread? Of 195 countries, 87 have GMs. Only half of these boast 10 or more. South Africa and Zambia are among 15 nations with only one. A continental split of Africa (15 IGMs) the Americas (251), Asia/Middle East (258) and Europe (702) speaks volumes about popularity and opportunity. But add the countries of the former USSR (589) and Yugoslavia (144) and you see where chess culture predominated before those two great equalisers: glasnost and the internet.

India (68) and China (48) show fastest inherent growth alongside migration-driven surges in the USA (118), Germany (104) and Israel (47). Interestingly, tiny Iceland (17) denotes a population ratio 20 times greater than Russia’s world-topping 290! But qualitywise ….? Well, next month only 1 Russian among 8 candidates will compete to challenge the second consecutive non-Russian world champion. Among the Wonderboys (of chess), Bob Dylan’s song for that 2000 movie of a Michael Chabon novel rings true: Things Have

Changed!

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I welcome comments, games and news at victor.strugo@gmail.com. Find local news at www.chesshub.org.za and facebook.com/ SACHESSPLAYERS.