The Chancellor’s Craze, Chess Pays

Just when human spirits were being damned or rose above the unexpected, with the General Election, and the lead-up to taking the vote having the appearance of a Punch and Judy show, a number of exciting events in the chess world gave sustenance and credibility to the belief in everlasting human achievement and a gorgeous future for human creative abilities.

Given the election results and only days into Labour’s landslide victory, the formation of the new Government heralded the appointment of Britain’s first female Chancellor and finance minister, Rachel Reeves, who was a junior chess champion into the bargain! She stated on being appointed, ‘It was the honour of my life,’ and a ‘historic responsibility being the first woman to be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer’, Britain’s top economic and finance policymaker! In outlining her political development over the years, and most recently under Starmer as finance chief in 2021, she credits her father and a primary school teacher for fuelling an interest in chess, becoming the British Girls Under 14 Chess Champion, stating, ‘This prepared me for my career in politics.’ She stated further that ‘chess is about getting you to look ahead, to think strategically and not just tactically, and to think about what your opponent’s next move is going to be as well as your own!’ This bodes well for chess at Government level, and chess as just described is and has been a tool for educational learning and putting in place methodologies for pupils and students in their learning curve. Although recently and under the past Government of Rishi Sunak, a one-off grant was given to chess to expand its presence by, for example, placing chess tables and sets in public places as one way of encouraging the general public to take up the Royal Game, it would be of even greater importance if chess was recognised as a sport by the new Government under Starmer. In that way, chess could be annually supported by grants from The Ministry of Sport and Culture. Practically every country in the world recognises chess as a sport and it is financially supported as such in these countries from the Central Government! Funding from Sport England cannot be accessed for chess as it isn’t officially recognised as a sport here in England! Time to ring in the changes, Rachel?

In August last year, Rachel Reeves challenged Rishi Sunak to a game of chess when the report came out of the PM’s support to install 100 chess tables in British public parks which Reeves declared was far too little a number to make an impact on the general public! Along with the monetary one-off grant, Sunak avowed his intention to expand the game in schools! ‘The PM stated at the time his (honourable and creditable) desire to get more British children playing chess, describing it as a “great skill ” during his visit to Washington at the time. He linked this to, ‘the UK’s inherent,” anti-maths mindset’ that he believed has hampered efforts to improve numeracy.’ He further stated, ‘I won’t sit back and allow this cultural sense that it’s ok to be bad at maths, to put our children at a disadvantage. It’s about how we value maths in this country.’ Fine words but I never found out the result of the Reeves versus Rishi Sunak chess game, and after nearly a year of that PM’s fighting talk, no updates as to how many implementations of it have enriched children’s education, given that six-figure sums of Government money have been changing hands? Perhaps Rachel could enlighten us?

On the question of children’s engagement with chess, the recent announcement that a nine-year-old child would be representing England as one of our 10 Open team competitors in the forthcoming 180 countries Chess Olympiad to be held in Budapest, Hungary, this coming September! I will endeavour to find out how good her maths is.

Nine-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan, named as part of the English squad for the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, this coming September marks another landmark in her stellar chess career. Before that, she will be participating in the British Championships in Hull, from 25th July to 4th August, which includes the British Women’s Championship, and will be the youngest ever female contender to participate in this event. Her inclusion in the Chess Olympiad in England’s team makes history as the youngest player ever to represent England internationally in any of our sporting activities! She is also on track to become the youngest grandmaster in the world. She lives in Harrow, London, and her parents are mystified as to where her talent has sprung from? Although her mother and father can play chess, none of the family has ever played competitively, and Sivanandan, who works in IT, and Lakshmy Prius, her mother, have said, ‘It was all her own interest, she was just drawn to it, we never pushed her to chess or to train for it. During the pandemic, we, unlike many families, didn’t see ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ film that encouraged many more female players to take up the sport, but did watch ‘The Queen of Katwe’ film, 2016, about a young girl growing up in a slum in Uganda and who starts to play chess’. In March 2022 she won silver in the under 8 girls’ group in the European Youth Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship aged six! Last December at the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia she became ‘the youngest girl to avoid defeat against a GM, Vladislav Nevednichy, in a competitive game.’ Perhaps Bodhana’s temperament also lends itself to competitive sports in that she never gets flustered. She never gets an adrenaline rush when playing, she says, ‘I just try to stay calm to find the best moves.’ Her mother has said, ‘From her face, we can’t tell when she comes out of a match whether she won, drew or lost, her expression is always the same!’ Bodhana’s skills have drawn comparison with the young Judit Polgar, the Hungarian prodigy who at nine years old astounded everyone, including the players, at the 1986 New York Open with her prowess, and who went on to attain her GM title, a record at the time. Many accolades are being bestowed on Bodhana, such as from the IM and commentator, Lawrence Trent, who has described her ‘as one of the greatest talents in recent history and hailed the maturity of her play, her sublime touch as truly breathtaking.’ The rating order for the forthcoming Olympiad is, Vitiugov 2678, David Howell 2675, Michael Adams 2672, Gawain Jones 2640, Luke McShane 2617. The women’s team were Jovanka Houska 2333, Lan Yao 2325, Harriet Hunt 2304, Katarzyna Toma 2241, and Bodhana Sivanandan 2185. Good luck to our teams and wishing Bodhana every success!