The Life and Times of Chess | Episode 52 | Everything is Everything
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- We love chess -- and now, as it has exploded as a spectator sport, so do millions of others. But why do we love it so much? What does it mean for India that D Gukesh has qualified for the World Championship match? How did Vishy Anand inspire a generation of grandmasters to emerge? What role do computers play?
Welcome to Episode 52 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.
In this episode, Amit takes us through a history of the World Chess Championships, all the way from 1886 to now. He discusses the intellectual evolution of the game -- and the geopolitics of it. He parses the role of computers, and explains why the game is more exciting now than ever before. Ajay adds in some higher-order thoughts about chess and society. And finally, right at the end, the two of them even play a game!
If you like watching Everything is Everything, please like, subscribe, share, comment. :)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Packaging
00:13 Introduction: A Deep Passion for Chess
03:05 Chapter 1: The History of the World Chess Championship
19:40 Chapter 2: The Intellectual History of Chess
32:41 Chapter 3: Chess Is Still a Human Game
39:38 Chapter 4: Is Cheating a Problem?
42:58 Chapter 5: Chess as a Spectator Sport
51:20 Chapter 6: Some Larger Questions
1:31:34 Chapter 7: Dial V for Varma! Dial V for Variants!
1:33:46 Chapter 8: Recommendations
1:38:14 Chapter 9: Amit & Ajay Play Chess!
USEFUL RESOURCES:
1. Amit on Twitter: / amitvarma
2. Ajay on Twitter: / ajay_shah
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And CZcams, though less than 1% of listens come from here: / @theseenandtheunseen )
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on CZcams: / @xkdr
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. The India Uncut Newsletter -- Amit's newsletter at indiauncut.substack.com/
8. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World -- Amit Varma: www.espn.in/chess/story/_/id/...
9. Thought and Choice in Chess -- Adriaan de Groot: amzn.in/d/05UOJSsH
10. The Dream Becomes a Reality -- Gukesh's interview by Sagar Shah: • The Dream becomes a re...
11. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything: • Poker and Life | Episo...
12. Range Rover -- The Archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for the Economic Times: indiauncut.com/category/range...
13. Om Namah Volume -- Amit Varma: indiauncut.com/om-namah-volume/
14. Magnus Carlsen Ranks The Candidates Players: • Magnus Carlsen Ranks T...
15. 'I Play to Play' -- Amit Varma: indiauncut.substack.com/p/i-p...
16. The Girl From Haryana -- Amit Varma's essay on Sakshi Malik that contains a potted history of women's wrestling in Haryana: indiauncut.com/the-girl-from-...
17. Game Changer -- Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan: amzn.in/d/0jel0lub
18. How Life Imitates Chess -- Garry Kasparov: amzn.in/d/0hBxxCI3
19. GothamChess: / @gothamchess
20. agadmator's Chess Channel: / @agadmator
21. Hikaru Nakamura's channel: / gmhikaru
22. Chess Base India: / @chessbaseindiachannel
Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas and Nomsita MS Haritashya: / vaishnav.vyas
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya: / nomsitaharitashya
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound: / gaurav_chintamani
Chapter image by Simahina: / i_am_simahina
For Mr. Ajay Shah: Reason why GM norm tournaments don't happen in India is that India has many strong players but they are under-rated. To get higher rated players from America/Europe or even generally to organise such tournaments would take around INR 30 Crores (I think Sagar Shah had explained this in a video, that's where I am getting my numbers) and we aren't able to raise that much money for just another random tournament.
Love it when Amit casually starts flexing his 2000 rating...!
It's embarrasingly low, actually. I was better 30 years ago. Now the 2100s just walk all over me.
Hi Amit and Ajay,
Great episkde. Love your content.
There was very repetitive use of mylapore circle for chess booming in madras. I dont think the place has any significance to the contribution of chess. In my opinion, it was vishy who opened the gates and not to mention velammal school who has greatly supported these chess GMs like Gukesh, Pragg , vaishali , sethuraman , adhibhan etc. Another important credit in the chess circle needs to go to RB Ramesh who is a GM himself who is a trainer for Pragg.
Also on a side note, i listen the episdoe while on my commute. The honking in the background always throws me off , I turn back to see if someone behind me is unhappy .
Also happened in thr AMA episode.
Hope you guys can fix the background audio noises 😅
Such a beautiful conversation! Loved Amit's insights and the deep love that he so evidently has for chess.
And Ajay's larger, zoomed out view of chess, and the segue into the more general questions, his ability to simplify complex questions, it's such a delight! Enjoyed this conversation hugely!
Make a session on ways (technological/otherwise) to curb low-level corruption at sarkari offices, since it is hard to change human behavior especially "get-things-fastly-through" mindset of the Indian public that has worsened the situation of giving in to paying bribes at the sarkari offices
The Queen's Gambit its a series around chess.
It interesting because of its portray of the tension between USSR and USA.
This discussion brought to mind Shanti Bhavan, the school set up by Abraham George for underprivileged children. It may have around 300 graduates by now. Some of them have been accepted to Stanford, Dartmouth, MIT, Chicago, Duke, etc. How much potential must never get realized in India?
Brilliant episode! Thank you both for all that you do.
Excellent video! An exhilarating conversation on chess while people paraglide in the background. Truly beautiful work.
Interestingly, since 2018, there have been 285 Grandmasters and 47 Junior Grandmasters (Grandmasters currently younger than 20). Of these, 12% of the Grandmasters are Indian, and 10% are Russian. But among the Junior Grandmasters, 30% are Indian, while only 4% are Russian.
There is a notable upcoming shift in the chess epicentre from the former Soviet Union towards India.
This is huge!
Here is a conjecture. The higher up you go, the less it can work on pure nature. Nurture becomes more important in the journey to super GM.
I sense it’s a mix of both.
8 of the 10 countries with the most GMs have multiple Super GMs (Ukraine and Spain are exceptions). This supports the nurture and cluster argument (also a previous Everything is Everything episode).
However, despite few GMs overall, Iran and Azerbaijan also have multiple Super GMs. There may be something special about these individuals.
Absolutely brilliant !
Big fan of Ajay's shirts 🫠
Been waiting for this for such a long time! Wonderful episode as always!
Great episode . At some point would you consider taking a bit about the Kerala model of development and how much of it is attributable to the land reforms in the 1950s to 1970s. Such go against the grain of markets doesn’t it
Amit ji ! Please do at least one live match commentary with Sagar Shah for Gukesh Finals!!! 🙏 Wanna see "The Seen and the Unseen moves in Gukesh vs Ding"🔥
Talking about chess in the hotspot of adventure sports, quite a contrast! or maybe that is why the chair is so precariously placed.
In the National Junior Championship in 1993 at Vijaywada, I wanted to avoid an opponent's opening prep and started with 1. b4. (The Orangutan Opening, much favoured by Sokolsky.) My opponent came to the board 20 mins late, looked at the board and started laughing. I was crushed -- and then crushed.
At least in Bir you're attached to a paragliding wing when you jump off a mountain.
Hi Amit and Ajay, my favourite episode until now has been Beauty of Finance and I had a request regarding whether you can do similar episode with a bit more focus and sort of a primer on Macroeconomics, specifically from the buy-side practitioner and investor perspective . (Apologies if something like this has already been made as I haven’t listened to every episode) Another episode I’d love to see would be actionable tips to incorporate first principles thinking in your life, figuring out one’s life’s work as soon as possible and improve decision making in general. Thanks!
The backdrop suggests you guys are on your way to the fellowship council at Rivendell
Petition to rename Ajay to Elvish Shah.
@@amitvarma Yesss!! as he is among the wisest which fits the description.
Wonderful conversation.....if we could get a 4-5 hour podcast on chess ,would be great.
Comment for Mr. Ajay Shah: The number of GMs in our country has some government role as well. Many players like Vidit are employees in a government company like ONGC, so a percentage of their expenses are covered and players are able to sustain themselves and make a living playing chess.
Finally 👀
I wonder If I would have been happier if it was 64th episode or now that it is earlier.
Bombastic location 😦
No mention in chapter 6 of the polgar sisters as an experiment and challenge by their father? Anand’s second, GMJonathan Rowson has a chapter in his book, Moves that Matter, about women chess players.
Hi Amit Sir. Hope you are doing well. Been a follower since IVM days but not really in touch with podcast nowadays. So just wondering, Is the podcasts still active or have you started of your own Because i see no mention of IVM
Also it would be a great idea if you can do an episode with your best recommendation of books and movies (separately discussing in details) which has a great impact on your life or in general you would suggest people to give at least a read or watch that can help a person in different phases of there life for making better decisions overall
I only started out partnering with IVM, and have had nothing to do with them for the last five years.
I've recommended books and films in almost every episode I've done, of both The Seen and the Unseen & Everything is Everything.
Listening
Finally chess!
Please do an episode on bade ghulam Ali Khan.. You even cut my question in ask me section... Explore nikhil banerjee aamir khan ahmed jaan thirkwa... Please amit
What location is this?
58:33 this factoid seems dubious
What's up with the background noise😂
Funny how Amit innocently asks if there are chess circles in Mylapore. Maybe there are. But I don't know if he is aware that it is probably just the usual alias/pejorative used for Tamil Brahmins.
maps.app.goo.gl/XAnHZnpnWkaJ3zWq9
@@ajayshah5705 Yeah Mylapore is a place that I'm aware of. I'm positing here about the origin of the term. The term usually means that. Maybe it is not in this case and Vishy and the circles actually are in Mylapore. But I have never heard about Mylapore circles when I participated in school tourneys.
-Reader from Chennai.