How to checkmate on turf

Hockey stars learn chess moves to enchange tactical nous.

Bengaluru: The player holding fort of the four squares in the centre of a chess board often controls the course of the game. It is much like the midfield area on a hockey pitch that binds the structure of the team together while dictating the proceedings of a match. 

Though chess and hockey are different from one another in more ways than one, the striking similarities are also hard to ignore. To better understand such nuances, Craig Fulton, head coach of the Indian men’s hockey team, invited former international chess player Prachura P Padakannaya for an interactive session to explain the correlation to the national team. 

“When you think big picture, during every game there is a strategy associated with winning. And chess is so tactical that you can learn a lot of your moves,” said Fulton at the end of one-hour interaction at the Sports Authority of India here in the city. 

“We just wanted to link the two so the players get better at learning what patterns (on the field) look like so they can recognise it and know where to position themselves,” explained the 50-year-old South African. 

Following their successful Asia Cup campaign, where they lifted the title for a fourth time to earn a direct World Cup qualification, the team is back in the camp to begin preparations for a demanding year ahead.

Every step taken from here on will result in their performance at the World Cup, co-hosted by Netherlands and Belgium, and the Asian Games in Japan - both within three weeks apart. Aware of what lies ahead, Fulton and his men are leaving no stone unturned in strengthening every little aspect of their unit. 

“We want to play a certain way. But if we have a wrong set-up or strategy from the beginning we cannot play that way. So this is the connection between hockey and chess. You have to start really well then the middle game becomes about the intelligence and the endgame is about finishing strong,” pointed Fulton. After the hockey stars eagerly listened to Padakannaya’s insights ranging from the importance of an opening move to creating a net against the opponents’ pieces to close-in on their king for a checkmate, the chess master challenged one of them to take him on. 

Vivek Sagar Prasad, the mindful midfielder of the current Indian side, was the team’s chosen candidate. As all the members huddled around the 25-year-old facing the chess expert, it was Vivek who outsmarted Padakannaya in a quick battle on the chequered board!