By Arena Grandmaster Rey Urbiztondo
Contributor
STAYING home due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the use of the internet led to the sudden boom in the interest of online chess games.
Over the board (OTB), the majority of the games are played in five hours while only an average of five minutes in internet chess. Likewise, in OTB, you have limited opponents while in this platform, you can play unlimited to your heart’s desire against opponents around the world with different nationalities especially those from Europe and America.
You need not worry nor be embarrassed if you lose a game because your opponent could not even see your face nor detect your reaction. Or you may opt to use a username to disguise your identity.
And since one is assured of unlimited games to play, you can try your attacking lines to check if it’s effective, unless you are particular with maintaining or raising your chess rating.
While playing, your opponent’s rating is written beside his/her name which is reflective of one's caliber.
The Netflix movie shown during the pandemic, The Queen’s Gambit, with 62 million household viewers on its first month alone, plus several awards it received, contributed much to the growth of online chess comparable to the 1972 world championship match won by American Bobby Fischer over Russian rival Boris Spassky during the West and East’s cold war.
Online platforms like chess.com, lichess.org, chess24, and arenafide.net reported surging activities of the 64-square-board game.
Chess live streamers on video-sharing websites like “Twitch” have tripled and even quadrupled from their followers.
Likewise, the world’s best players and grandmasters could be challenged in a click!
They are more accessible than ever and had been hosting events that break viewership records!
YouTube reported that Chess videos have been watched more than 350 million times worldwide since January 2020. Posted videos were reviewed by thousands of viewers per day.
Several prizes are also offered in the online chess arena.
The Grandmaster award by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (Fide), the world governing body of Chess is every player’s dream. Luckily, I nailed it on September 11, 2021. Lasus Deo!
In July 2020, I was so elated to be awarded the Arena International Master (AIM) but never in my wildest dreams that I could be gaining also the Arena Grandmaster title.
For the AIM, one has to maintain a rating of 1700 for 100 games, and for AGM, the rating of 2000 has to be maintained for 100 games without fail, since one's rating will go back to zero if it falls below 2000.
The Fide chess arena tourneys have been dominated by the Russians so, most of my opponents were Russians and Europeans.
I just couldn’t believe my luck that I really made it. So I encourage every chess aficionado to try their luck too.
The Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) is the first professional chess league in Asia and in the Philippines and is presently hosting an Invitational Conference.
As the team owner of the Surigao Fianchetto Checkmates, I am proud that my team representing Mindanao had qualified for the next round where foreign teams such as China, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia will be joining us. So good luck teammates and God bless!
