The Indian males’s hockey group was given a novel chess masterclass by Prachura P Padakannaya, a co-owner of the American Gambits franchise within the World Chess League, in a first-of-its-kind initiative on Friday. That is a part of Indian hockey group coach Craig Fulton’s initiatives to get the hockey group to develop their horizons and transfer out of their consolation zones. In the course of the session on the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI) campus in Bengaluru on Friday, Prachura defined the nuances of the game of 64 squares apart from additionally taking part in a sport towards Indian midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad, who was aided by India captain Harmanpreet Singh, who performs chess together with his spouse when he’s again house on a break.
The session was designed to assist gamers assume extra clearly and make sharper selections by drawing correlations from chess to hockey. Prachura drew parallels between chess and hockey, explaining how one particular person being out of place on the hockey pitch was like misplaying a transfer within the opening section. Prachura highlighted how rules resembling planning, anticipation, positioning and endurance will be utilized successfully on the hockey discipline. Utilizing video examples from precise sport conditions, he demonstrated the significance of foresight, calculated danger and psychological self-discipline in a aggressive sport.
As a part of the session, Prachura broke down the three key phases of chess: opening, middle-game and the endgame. He defined how the opening is about making the suitable strikes firstly to construct a powerful basis just like hockey getting off to an excellent begin. The middlegame, the place the largest battles are fought, drawing parallels with the significance of controlling the midfield in hockey to forge success of their assault. Lastly, the endgame, the place precision and mentality decides the result of the end result, was likened to a striker ending off a transfer in hockey. Right here, Prachura confirmed the highlights from India’s Tokyo Olympics Bronze-medal outing — calling it the right endgame — the place the Indian group held their nerves to defend 5-4 towards Germany regardless of their opponents getting a penalty nook within the final six seconds of the sport.
He additional defined the roles of every chess piece and associated them to hockey positions: pawns appearing as the primary line of defence, rooks and bishops creating construction and motion, knights stunning opponents with sudden strikes whereas the queen embodying versatility and dominance.
Reflecting on his interplay with the group, Prachura stated, “The development in each video games could be very, very comparable. My expertise right here was incredible as a result of I by no means anticipated them to be so curious and fascinating for a chess session. They had been very inquisitive concerning the totally different codecs in chess, how one must assume seven-eight strikes forward and so they had been additionally fairly amused to see how calm Gukesh’s heartrate was once I performed the video of his current match towards Hikaru.
Even earlier than the session started, they had been interacting with me and had been speaking about what they do off the sphere and of their free time. It was good to know at the least half the group has performed chess both with their household or teammates. It was an amazing expertise to have and all the time a pleasure to work together with the very best sportsmen of the nation.”
Including to the fun-and-engaging session, Prachura additionally invited the gamers for a pleasant sport of chess and Indian midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad was the primary to raise his hand up for the problem. He was partnered by Captain Harmanpreet Singh, who performs chess together with his spouse when he’s again house on a break. The remainder of the group, cheered the duo on.
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Indian hockey group’s Manpreet Singh and Harmanpreet Singh with American Gambits co-owner Prachura P Padakannaya after the grasp class session on the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI) campus in Bengaluru on Friday. (PHOTO: Hockey India)
Sharing his ideas, Vivek stated, “It was a really insightful chess masterclass and we’re grateful that Prachura made it so fascinating by drawing similarities between the 2 sports activities. It was a studying expertise, normally in hockey we’ve to assume two-three strikes forward however in chess they’re considering seven-eight strikes forward and that’s one thing I want to work on personally on my sport.”
Relating chess to his position in hockey, he stated, “Like on the chessboard, I see myself as each the knight and the queen. The knight’s unpredictability and the queen’s freedom to maneuver wherever replicate my position as a midfielder. Identical to them, I cowl the sphere from assault to defence, stepping in wherever the group wants me.”
Including to Vivek’s views, Harmanpreet stated, “As elite athletes, we all the time have one thing new to be taught from one other sport. We be taught many new aspects of chess at present and positively extra such participating classes will solely assist us have a holistic method to our sport and assume otherwise.”
Indian males’s hockey chief coach Craig Fulton praised the initiative, stating, “Each sport has a method and chess is without doubt one of the finest methods to discover ways to assume a number of steps forward. In hockey too, in the event you begin with the improper setup, you open your self as much as errors, it’s about getting the inspiration proper, adapting within the center and ending sturdy. That connection between chess and hockey was clear at present. It was additionally encouraging to see how engaged the gamers had been and I consider classes like this is not going to solely sharpen their choice making but additionally preserve them positively occupied of their free time. Who is aware of, perhaps we’ll even have an intra-squad chess event sooner or later.”