Interview: Egypt chess master hopes for more popularity for "the game of kings"

"It is known worldwide as 'the game of kings,' so I hope one day chess will be introduced to Egyptian schools, a move that will make a big difference in the future of chess in Egypt," Grandmaster Bassem Amin, chess 2015 title-holder of Egypt, the Arab world, Africa and the Mediterranean, told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview in Cairo.

Amin said there are more than 100 countries where chess is a basic subject at school, as they are aware of the significance of the game and its positive influence on children and their mentality.

"There was an agreement in 2011 between the education and the sports ministries to introduce chess at schools but it was halted because of the political unrest over the past few years. The issue is refreshed now and we hope this will be accomplished within a year or two," the 27-year-old physician and chess grandmaster said.

The Egyptian champion, the only Arab and African in the list of the world's top 100 chess players, lamented that chess does not enjoy enough media coverage or financial support from the Egyptian Sports Ministry.

"As football is the most popular sport in Egypt, the media here would not cover a chess continental championship but would focus on a local football match with hours of TV analysis and pages on newspapers," Amin told Xinhua.

The brilliance of the top Egyptian chess player manifested itself before the age of five, when his father used to teach him how to line up the pieces on the chessboard and how to move each, until one day a surprising incident took place.

"The chessboard fell on the ground and the pieces were scattered everywhere. My father wanted to start a new game but he was surprised that I remembered the game and set each piece in the right place on the board to continue the same game."

He said that since then, his father realized his talent and brought him coaches from his Delta Gharbiya province and then from the capital Cairo, until he won the Arab chess championship under the age of nine. "That was the beginning of my long journey of chess."

In December's monthly rating list of the World Chess Federation, Amin was rated 78 in the world with 2665 points. In the 2015 World Chess Cup tournament held in Azerbaijan, Amin beat Croatia's top player Ivan Saric 2-0 in September and he later narrowly lost to Russia's grandmaster Dmitry Jakovenko after three draw games.

No wonder that Jakovenko praised Amin's performance and said he was so surprised by Amin's performance that he had to be defensive throughout the four matches. "Amin just played better than me," the Russian grandmaster commented after the battle.

"I was happy that Jakovenko, rating 15 in the world, praised my performance and admitted I was closer to win. That is why these people are more advanced. Their culture is based on admission of truth rather than on finding excuses," Amin told Xinhua.

Computers made a leap in chess due to the many applications and software that made it easy for chess players to exercise on game openings, middles and endings without having to go through rare large books as was the case in the past.

"Computers changed chess 180 degrees. It made it easier to train without a coach, to play online with rated chess players around the world and to watch YouTube videos of grandmasters analyzing games and strategies while you're just sitting at home," the Egyptian champion explained.

He said that although top players, including himself, exercise for about ten hours a day on computer, the machine has not greatly affected the creative side of their style of playing. "Creativity in chess has no end, and this is the beauty of the game of kings."

Amin still regretted that the Egyptian chess national team does not have a foreign coach. "We have been demanding a professional foreign coach for over 15 years now. The cost is much less than hiring a foreign football coach. We achieved these chess titles without a foreign coach, let alone if we had one."

"The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in the battle! This is my motto in chess, which can be applied to work, business, study and everything in life," Amin said, adding that a chess player should neither underestimate his opponent nor give up hope until the last move in the game.

"A player should focus until the end of the match. You never win a chess game until the opponent resigns and you shake hands," he said. Endit