Each year, July 20 is a day of celebration for all chess enthusiasts. It has been international discipline day since 1966. However, it was not until December 12, 2019 that the United Nations officially registered the date on the calendar. The objective is to praise the merits of this game, which, according to her, brings tolerance and mutual respect. On this festive day, on Europe 1 we ask three questions to make you discover the benefits of this sport which 700 million people around the world proudly engage in every year.
Is chess a sport?
700,000,000 is the number of players around the world who come to compete around the chessboard each year, or 10% of the world's population. A significant figure. And even the coronavirus crisis hasn't stopped the fiercest players. During the confinement, tournaments and online courses multiplied, bringing together more than 50 million players during the period. However, the rules are not so simple for those who are not yet initiated.
Thus, this discipline requires concentration and rigor. And today this game is recognized as a real sport. For the president of the French Chess Federation, Bachar Kouatly, it goes without saying: "It is a sport. From the moment you enter into competition that you put yourself in condition, that you also practice intense physical activity for to be able to concentrate for hours, you are in a sporting discipline. For example, Anatoli Karpov, famous chess player, had moreover lost three kilograms ".
Why did the UN formalize World Chess Day?
A game but also and above all a life lesson. And it is for this reason that the United Nations has formalized World Chess Day. The opportunity to recognize the benefits of this brain sport. Because, indeed, tolerance, respect for others and patience are the values that advocate the players who indulge in it. And the UN even wishes to universalize this discipline accessible to both men and women.
"An experiment was carried out in Africa: we learned to play chess to children, boys and girls. The girls who beat the boys was something very important. Because the first lesson in a game of failure is defeat. When you learn to lose, you learn that you are not alone in this world, you learn that you are with others. It is a promotion of equality, Women in all cultures can increasingly do this, "said Bachar Kouatly at the microphone for Europe 1.
Chess, an elitist game?
To realize this atmosphere where the notions of respect and tolerance make laws, head to the Luxembourg garden, in the center of Paris where a few chess enthusiasts meet regularly. And friendliness is there. Around the chess boards, men and women, of all ages and from all social ranks come to indulge in their favorite game. The minutes pass and the parts are linked. Winner or loser, the smile is always there.
"Whatever the social background, whatever we may have done or not, there is everything here. There are retirees, the unemployed, people who are on vacation. People who just need a place to meet ", says Raphaëlle a player who is delighted to belong to a real community at the microphone of Europe 1.
And this assumed conviviality promotes tolerance. This is what attracted Gaëtan, a young 28-year-old player: "People think it is a very elitist game, when not at all. The rules are the same for everyone. It is a game which emphasizes patience, equality. You have to be able to fight a long-term fight, to last, to be vigilant. It puts forward pure skills before culture or something else. "
All of them hope one day to see the game of chess registered as a compulsory option at school for, on the one hand initiating the smallest to this discipline rich in values and on the other hand opening this cerebral sport to girls still few in number. practice. Because indeed, among the 30 enthusiasts in the garden, women are missing: only 2 women came to play.