Say Yes to Chess!
By Paige Austin
I still own the battered and stained Candyland board game of my childhood. I loved playing Candyland with my parents and little brother until we got old enough to learn games of strategy, like backgammon and chess. My father’s father taught him to play backgammon during his childhood in rural Nebraska, and my dad always packed a travel set on family vacations. Games of all kinds have increased in popularity during the pandemic, but none more so than chess. Does chess seem complicated and intimidating? Well you know how Grupology loves to “turn the narrative on its head” — so let us show you how accessible and fun it is to play chess! Maybe you’ll add this inclusive and intergenerational game to your “say yes” list for 2022.
Board games have excited and engaged children through the ages. Candyland was invented in 1948 when a teacher with polio wanted to create a game to entertain the children she met during her hospital stay. Chess has been around just a little bit longer, invented in 8th century India. Over the centuries the game gradually made its way to Europe, where the pieces on the board were changed to resemble the English court. The first World Chess Championship was played in 1886 and chess has grown in popularity and our collective consciousness ever since.
From James Bond to the Simpsons to Harry Potter, some of our culture’s most iconic fictional characters have been seen playing chess. Last year 62 million households watched Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit,” a show based on a 1983 book of the same title. “The Queens’ Gambit” refers to a strategic chess opening and follows the life of a fictional little girl, growing up in an orphanage where the custodian teaches her to play chess. While fiction is always fun, there is nothing more inspirational than a true story! The life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl growing up in a slum in Uganda, inspired the movie “The Queen of Katwe.” Mutesi drops out of school at age nine to help support her family, but is taught chess by a missionary at a local sports center. She is awarded the title of Woman Candidate Master and uses chess to bring her family out of poverty. Our Grupology Chess Coaches are excited to follow the career of another teenage girl: Bibisara Assaubayeva from Kazakhstan. Assaubayeva is eighteen years old and has been playing chess since she was taught by her grandfather at age four. She holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster and is the youngest player to ever win the Women’s Blitz World Championship.
Phiona Mutesi was awarded the title of Woman Candidate Master and uses chess to bring her family out of poverty.
"SM17 Conversation with Phiona Mutesi" by IMF, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Creative Commons
Bibissara Assaubayeva is the youngest player to ever win the Women’s Blitz World Championship.
“Bibissara Assaubayeva” by Muslim.temir, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
From my father learning backgammon in rural Nebraska to Assaubayeva learning chess from her grandfather, games of strategy connect families and generations. Chess has survived 1500 years because it’s a game that transcends age, race, gender and socioeconomic background and satisfies our desire to think both critically and creatively. Little girls living in the slums of Uganda and old men in New York City’s Washington Square Park can all connect with this game. How we play chess continues to evolve, but the game itself endures. Do you think 8th century Indians could have imagined their board game “streaming” on computers across the world?! Grupology invites you to try chess for the first time, brush off a game you learned a long time ago, or come improve your skills if you are already an avid chess player. Say yes to chess!
Paige is Content Development Lead at Grupology and the mother of two. She loves reading, tennis and cleaning her house while listening to podcasts. She has taught Spy School at Grupology and can’t wait to play more chess.
