He's a veteran warrior of board battles who wants to give something big back to the game.
Meet Jamshedpur's Pritam Singh, 43, a 10-time state chess champion, who has embarked on the challenging mission of teaching the mind game to one crore people of Jharkhand in six years, that is 2021.
Why is that?
"Chess is a mental game that helps people of all ages in thinking logically and creatively," said Singh, the secretary of All Jharkhand Chess Association. "Chess is said to exercise both the left and right sides of the brain and increase IQ. It helps children focus and prevents elderly people from developing Alzheimer's disease. It makes players more confident," he added. "What's not to love about chess?"
The office superintendent at the income tax office (Jamshedpur circle), chess is clearly Singh's first love.
The idea of launching the one-crore chess mission, Singh said, germinated during the World Chess Championship in Chennai in December 2013.
"I and our Jharkhand chess association chief Pradeep Verma had been to Chennai to watch Viswanathan Anand at play. It was a great game and later on Verma and I got talking about how we could put impetus back in the sport in Jharkhand, especially among youngsters. That's when the idea of a mega chess mission was born. Since someone had to do it, why not me."
On how he was going about it, Singh said he was currently doing spadework.
Since August last week, Singh discussed the idea of his mission in DAV public schools (CBSE) in NIT (Adityapur), Simdega, Baharagora, Chaibasa, Jhinkpani, Noamundi, Gua and Chiriyan, giving one-hour lectures on "why play chess".
"We also appointed four chess tutors at a CBSE cradle in Ranchi, the Sarla Birla Public School. The state chess association and Jamshedpur's Carmel Junior College, an institution affiliated to ICSE, jointly organise inter-school chess tournaments among schools where the steel city apart, cradles from Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chakradharpur and Bokaro also compete," he said.
Exuding confidence, Singh said he was optimistic of attaining the target of one crore chess players in Jharkhand by 2021.
"I think it's doable," he said. "Students are showing keen interest in the game. I know the challenge cannot be undertaken alone. But, I have a team of dedicated chess players who are spreading awareness about the game in different districts of the state." I have recently roped in a former chess players who will teach the technical aspects of the game, he signed off.
He added his effort was not aimed at producing Grandmasters and International Masters. "If that happens, great. But, the game develops memory, improves concentration, develops logical thinking, promotes imagination and creativity and inspires self-motivation in people of all ages. Yes, these will help students in studies. But, I'd like to stress that the game is for everyone."
